County government stimulus receipts at $8.2M
Web site offers daily updates on federal money, county projects
As of Tuesday, Montgomery County government has received $8.2 million in federal stimulus funding, with more money either on the way or up for grabs, as county officials work with state and federal authorities to secure money for projects ranging from road construction to health care.
The majority of the money in hand — $6.9 million — has been awarded to the county's transportation department, with the remainder allocated to the economic development department, said Kathleen Boucher, an assistant chief administrative officer heading the county's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act work.
"There are certain streams of money that should be coming to us if certain steps are taken," Boucher said.
County officials this week launched a searchable Web site that tracks stimulus funding to the county and its independent agencies, including the county school system, Housing Opportunities Commission and Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.
HOC was awarded a $3 million housing grant, and WSSC was awarded a $4 million grant for sewer projects. But utility officials turned down the offer of a $2 million stimulus loan, at 1 percent interest, that would have gone toward relining 2.6 miles of sewers in the Quaint Acres section of Silver Spring near White Oak, because they believed they could get as good a deal on the open market, utility spokesman John White said.
The stimulus money for the county falls into two broad categories: formula grants that require county officials to complete applications to show eligible projects for money that is to be allocated to the county; and competitive grants for which the county is competing. None of the competitive grants sought by the county has been awarded, Boucher said.
Montgomery County took center stage earlier this year when a resurfacing project along a portion of New Hampshire Avenue was chosen as the first shovel-ready project to be funded with federal stimulus money. The New Hampshire resurfacing was a state roadway project, and local officials have not advertised county roads to be resurfaced with the use of local stimulus money, said Al Roshdieh, deputy director of the county's transportation department.
Roshdieh's department has a laundry list of projects on tap for the county's stimulus money, either received or allocated but not yet in hand. About $6.5 million will be used to buy 12 hybrid and one diesel bus. Also, money will go toward purchasing traffic safety items to keep signals running during power outages, repairing guardrails and installing fiber-optic lines in the Route 29 corridor to allow for the installation of traffic cameras.,
Like officials in Montgomery County, Prince George's County staff have not yet generated estimates on the number of jobs that will be — or have been — retained or created through stimulus projects, citing a lack of clear guidance from state and federal officials regarding how to measure job numbers.
In Prince George's County, about $15 million in local highway money has been awarded. Some $6.9 million will purchase 20 new buses, and $7.4 million will go toward road resurfacing, but the money still must be handed down from state officials, said Susan Hubbard, spokeswoman for the county's transportation department.
At the state level, federal stimulus money has been awarded only for highway projects, said Shaun Adamec, a spokesman for Gov. Martin O'Malley (D).
Similar to local jurisdictions, state officials are awaiting additional federal funds over the next two years. A searchable Web site, http://statestat.maryland.gov , tracks state stimulus spending, similar to the Montgomery County site.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Education announced approval of Maryland's application for $589 million in federal education funding. The following day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved $121.6 million to the state for 95 water projects.