Local stimulus: Area allocated nearly $148 million in federal funds
Many people questioned how the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 would be spent.
Now, more than nine months after President Barack Obama signed the bill, nearly $148 million in large and small amounts have been allocated to fund nearly 200 projects and programs in Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties.
See what local entities received federal stimulus money»
The largest job is the $29 million interchange at State Road 85 and State Road 123 near Northwest Florida Regional Airport in Okaloosa. At the other end is $750 allocated for routine maintenance for three vehicles Santa Rosa County will purchase for its rural public transportation program.
“I know there was a lot concern that the money wouldn’t get to the people who needed and it would go to a bureaucrat’s salary or whatever,” said Lenore Wilson, executive director of Okaloosa Walton Homeless Continuum of Care/Opportunity Inc. “The application process is strenuous and difficult. We feel very confident that 95 percent of the money is going to (the people who need it and are) able to use this money well. And it is getting out there.”
Opportunity Inc. was initially approved to receive roughly $1.1 million in stimulus funds to help with rent and utility payments for people struggling to get by. However, the state of Florida, which distributes the money, was uncertain the organization could spend that much money and reduced Opportunity Inc.’s contract to $656,000.
“We could have spent five times as much as what we got,” Wilson said. “Not everyone qualifies, but we could not fund everyone who does qualify because so many people are in economic distress.”
Opportunity Inc. received a check for $124,041 last month to help with housing and is expected to receive an additional $100,000 about every three months.
The funds will be used to help pay rent and utilities for residents who have fallen behind on their payments or to help someone who is homeless pay housing deposits.
The organization has helped 88 households so far, which represents about $81,000 of the initial $124,041.
Wilson said the last of the checks to cover the initial stimulus dollars were sent out Friday. The organization will apply Thursday to receive its second payment and she hopes that money will arrive in January.
The federal stimulus dollars are responsible for allowing work to start early on the SR 85-123 project. The job was proposed in 2005, with construction initially planned to start this year.
However, work was delayed several times because of lack of funding. Before the stimulus dollars were approved, construction was not expected to start before 2012.
Drainage and utility work near the intersection began over the summer. The number of workers on the project is expected to ramp up early next year.
The project is expected to be completed in April 2012.
“It’s going real well,” said Tommie Speights, district spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation. “They’re on schedule and they should begin to deploy more forces out there in mid-January.”
School districts also received stimulus dollars.
Of the $4.26 million the Walton County School District received, about $2.3 million will offset shortfalls in the district’s general fund.
“Without that $2.3 million there, we would have been facing severe layoffs,” said Jim McCall, the school district’s finance director. “Our budget would have been $2.3 million less than it is now, and it’s less now than it was last year even with the stimulus money.”
Walton County also received funds to support its Title 1 program, which helps disadvantaged students, and Project IDEA, which helps students with disabilities.
