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FEDERAL FUNDS IMPACT REGION

June 12, 2009 12:36 am

By DAN TELVOCK

Most of the federal stimulus funds for the Fredericksburg area so far have helped education and local governments balance their budgets.

But by 2011, the focus will shift to transportation and energy efficiency.

Some local government officials said the hastily passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is confusing, but others said they are pleased that money will be coming to their localities over the next two years.

Spotsylvania County has received the most money in this region, more than $46 million. Other localities, such as Fredericksburg and King George County, have so far been skipped over on requests for millions of dollars in transportation and sewer upgrades, getting funds mostly for education.

Virginia localities have sought $465 billion worth of projects, and requests for money from state residents fill 916 pages.

In January, local government officials sent to the state lists of "shovel ready" projects, which could begin six to eight months after funds are received.

Regionally, the projects included $300,000 to finish a park in Spotsylvania's rural Belmont area; $900,000 for a concession building, bathrooms and field lighting at King George's Sealston Sports Complex; and $90 million for Rocky Pen Reservoir in Stafford County. None has received money at this point.

HOW THE AREA FARED

King George Board of Supervisors Chairman Joseph Grzeika said he was disappointed with the $3.5 million the county got. The school system used $1.3 million to avoid laying off teachers.

"I think we put in some projects that had a lot of merit, ready to go, and there was no money," he said. "It just came for the schools."

Grzeika said upgrades to the county's sewage infrastructure, a new sheriff's office operations center and animal control office will just have to be prioritized with all of the other projects listed.

He said the process was hastily done and a bit uncoordinated. There was not much assistance or guidance in how to best apply for the money, he said.

"You put in anything that could be deemed shovel ready and see what happens," he said. "You had no set of requirements or set of criteria. It was a wide-open thing. Everybody did the same thing: They took everything they had and put it on the drawing board."

Of Fredericksburg's $89.4 million in requests, the city got about $1.8 million, most of which went to education. One of the requests turned down was $4 million for a riverfront park downtown.

Matt Kelly, a Fredericksburg city councilman, said the stimulus process was erratic. He said there are other funding sources the city can try to tap for its projects.

"Obviously we weren't on the top of the list," he said. "I am beyond disappointed, happy or surprised by anything coming out of Richmond or Washington."

STILL SEEKING STIMULUS

Stafford County received about $30 million in stimulus funds. The county got about $5.3 million to replace a bridge on Courthouse Road and more than $20 million for the schools. The county asked for more than $321 million in projects.

Stafford's Deputy County Administrator Timothy J. Baroody said they are still hoping for more stimulus funds, possibly for a new fire and rescue station for the Rockhill area. He said all localities should know by the end of the year if any additional projects will receive stimulus funds.

Baroody said although the process was cumbersome, county officials are satisfied with the money they've received so far.

Spotsylvania County picked up $25 million to widen a portion of State Route 3 and $474,000 for a methane project at the Livingston Landfill.

Supervisor Hap Connors said he is very happy with the stimulus money. He said it helped balance the fiscal year 2010 budget and provided more funds for education.

"We really scrubbed our list, and we didn't send them a Christmas list," he said. "We sent them a prioritized list of projects that were ready to go and were rewarded as a result."

NATIONAL OUTLOOK

The Associated Press reported this week that that about $44 billion of the $787 billion in stimulus money has been spent so far.

"In general, county elected officials are very pleased with the package itself because it does reflect many of the counties' priorities," said Stephanie Osborn, National Association of Counties' deputy director of county services.

NACO has received complaints about the program, she said. The Obama administration and federal agencies are writing the rules as the money leaves, which has caused some confusion, she said. There are reporting and regulatory requirements that must be followed, and some of those haven't even been developed yet.

"They are under a lot of pressure to make this work," she said of the administration.

In addition to balancing budgets and saving jobs, Osborn said, most of the money so far has gone to extend unemployment benefits and to fund Medicaid. Most school systems used stimulus funds to hire back teachers.

Another large pot of money is going directly to states for transportation projects.

"The state in many instances are setting the priorities, making the decisions and handling the process," she said.

Some application deadlines for funding haven't even passed yet, she said. Local governments may still apply for energy efficient and conservation block grants. But she doubted there would be any major transportation projects funded with stimulus money beyond those already announced.

"We think one of the longer-term impacts of the recovery act is many of the projects that were backlogged for many years will be cleared off the deck and will leave space for other projects--that is sort of the glimmer of hope if that project doesn't receive funding from the act."

Dan Telvock: 540/374-5438
Email: dtelvock@freelancestar.com