Maintenance backlogs at the Coast Guard’s shore infrastructure are a rapidly rising cost for the branch, officials told lawmakers this week.

The Government Accountability Office reported that the cost of deferred maintenance was $7 billion in 2024, according to Military Times. That’s up by about $5 billion in the previous three years.

“Current funding levels are only adequate to address the most pressing needs, which tend to be unplanned repairs,” GAO’s Heather MacLeod, director, homeland security and justice, told a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday in opening remarks.

GAO said the overdue maintenance projects include housing repairs, sinkholes at Coast Guard Yard, Maryland, and deteriorating facilities at the Coast Guard Academy, Connecticut and the Coast Guard Training Center Camp May, New Jersey.

With a total budget of around $12 billion, the Coast Guard is forced to prioritize expenditures.

Vice Adm. Thomas Allan, acting deputy Coast Guard commandant for operations, told lawmakers the Coast Guard is still on track to push for a $20 billion budget by 2030, a goal set by former Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan.

Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Third Class Christopher Biggs