By MATT MILNER Courier staff writer
June 16, 2009 11:34 pm
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BLOOMFIELD — Davis County Engineer Dave Grove said people got a bit concerned when online tracking of stimulus money showed no spending in Davis County.
It turns out that Davis County received money, but two factors kept it from showing up on the Web pages earlier this month. One: Davis County isn’t spending the money. Two: A separate state project in Davis County hadn’t come through just yet.
The stimulus money from the federal government eventually makes its way to the county level, but it makes a couple stops along the way. The federal government released the money to the states for distribution. Grove said the state then sent the money on to regional planning affiliations (RPA).
“When the stimulus money came, it came to the RPAs,” Grove said. “Our RPA got $2.7 million.”
Davis County is in a seven-county RPA. Splitting the money among the counties gave Davis County a claim to $361,000. The problem is that none of the counties could do much with that amount.
The RPA decided to split the money among four counties that had projects ready to go. The money could cover costs for those projects instead of leaving each project in each county short. That meant Davis County’s total showed up as zero despite the receipt of funding.
“Davis County got $361,000. It doesn’t show up because we don’t have a project,” Grove explained.
Davis County will eventually be able to claim the money, he said, and will most likely use it to help finish resurfacing the road between Bloomfield and Troy. That project’s total cost is estimated at $1.8 million.
Completion of that work is expected in 2011.
The numbers for other counties in the area are changing as well as more projects are settled. The changes bring the area’s total to $38.56 million, up from just under $30 million two weeks ago. Wapello County’s total is up to $29.3 million according to www.recovery.org. That’s a gain of about $5.5 million from early June.
The site also shows a state project in Davis County that costs $1.75 million.
The figure for Appanoose County declined from $1.59 million to $600,000. The reason for the change is not clear.
Matt Milner can be reached at (641) 683-5359 or via e-mail at mwmilner@mchsi.com
Stimulus funding
Counties in the Courier’s coverage area have received a total of $38.56 million in stimulus funding. Here’s how it breaks down:
Wapello County: $29.3 million
Mahaska County: $4.5 million
Davis County: $1.75 million
Jefferson County: $901,000
Van Buren County: $882,000
Keokuk County: $820,000
Monroe County: $690,000
Appanoose County: $600,000
Source: www.recovery.org
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