Stimulus: Look, ask and hope

If nothing else, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will create jobs for people who understand how it works and can explain it to others.

Two months after President Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus package, local governments with long lists of infrastructure projects still are unsure which wishes will be granted, partially because the criteria for getting the money are so complex.

"I do sort of feel like we're throwing darts at the board and hoping to hit a few," Athens-Clarke Commissioner Kelly Girtz said.

Girtz chaired a committee meeting last month to brainstorm projects to seek funding for. Onlookers chuckled as the county's assistant manager, Richard White, unfurled a chart the size of a kitchen table to explain to county commissioners where money was coming from and where it could go.

The chart laid out information from a bewildering array of dozens of federal and state Web sites that local officials - and, no doubt, a few curious citizens with time on their hands - are using to track how the stimulus money is spent.

"Announcements are being made on a daily basis, so we are monitoring this daily to find out what we are eligible to apply for," said White, who's in charge of looking for stimulus grants.

Mayor Heidi Davison and commissioners say they want to cast a wide net when it comes to stimulus money. And it shows in a list of projects they approved at Tuesday commission meeting, authorizing county employees to go ahead and apply without asking whenever they see a grant that might fit the bill.

Items on the list range from the vague - "enhanced law enforcement opportunities" - to the hyper-specific - "Fowler Mill Drive bridge deck replacement."

The wish list, made up of commissioners' and county employees' ideas, includes everything from hybrid police cars and solar panels to computer software to new roofs and paint for government buildings. Some have local funding that could be replaced with federal grants, while others have been sitting on a shelf or in a spreadsheet for years with little hope of ever getting done.

Adding to the confusion, the county's list differs from a widely circulated unofficial list of potential stimulus projects that hundreds of cities, including Athens-Clarke County, sent to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in January.

Mayors used that list as a tool to lobby congressmen to pass the stimulus bill by showing them how badly cities need money for infrastructure projects, but it was never meant to be formally submitted for funding.

"There's a lot of confusion on the part of the public," Davison said. "That list is just a suggestion, and we're not going to get all of that."

But citizens aren't the only ones who are confused. Money flowing from federal agencies sometimes goes to states, who are supposed to keep some of it themselves and pass some on to local governments. The feds send other checks directly to locals. Grants are announced, but rules for how to spend the grants lag behind.

Some of the money comes with strings attached. If a local government received a grant to hire police officers, for example, local officials would have to commit to using local taxes to pay those salaries for three years after the grants expire, Athens-Clarke Manager Alan Reddish said. To get money for bus shelters, Athens Transit would have had to hold public hearings to gather input on the environmental impact of every shelter it built, Transit Director Butch McDuffie said.

Some money, like $395,000 in block grants to fight poverty, came to Athens automatically based on formulas the federal government uses to disburse annual funding to local governments. But Athens-Clarke County can't spend it yet because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has not issued guidelines on what expenses are eligible.

For other grants, the rules are so strict that even many "shovel-ready" projects do not qualify. Two such projects in Athens - improvements at the Barnett Shoals-Old Lexington Road intersection and the Mitchell Bridge Road-Athens West Parkway intersection - are ineligible because they didn't go through a lengthy and expensive state environmental review.

"You talk about stimulus, that's ready to go," Oconee County planner Wayne Provost said.

Transportation is a source of particular frustration for local officials. The state Department of Transportation included just two projects in the Athens area - one in Jackson County and one in Madison County - among 67 in the $207 million first round of Georgia stimulus projects. Athens-Clarke Transportation and Public Works Director David Clark called a list "a glorified maintenance list" that will do little to improve the economy.

"It's become this asphalt project," Clark said at a recent meeting of transportation officials.

Unlike most metro areas, Athens will not have its own pot of transportation money to spend however it wants. Road money is set aside in the stimulus package for metro planning groups like the Atlanta Regional Commission, but MACORTS, the local equivalent, is too small to qualify, Athens-Clarke planner Sherry Moore said.

At least, it's too small as the rules stand now.

"This stuff is literally changing every day," Moore said.

STIMULUS MONEY

About $23 million in federal stimulus money has already flowed into the Athens area, and officials hope for more. The grants locals have already received include:

► $9 million to repair six dams in Barrow, Jackson and Madison counties.

► $4 million to repave Georgia Highway 82 in Jackson County and Georgia Highway 98 in Madison County.

► $3.7 million to modernize public housing in Athens, Winder, Jefferson, Commerce, Comer and Danielsville.

► Up to $2.4 million to buy five new Athens Transit buses.

► $1.1 million for energy efficiency and conservation.

► $900,000 for a landing system at the Barrow County airport.

► $604,969 to help homeless people or people in danger of becoming homeless keep or find housing.

► $395,575 for social services and infrastructure in impoverished Athens neighborhoods.

► $300,000 for Athens roads.

► $222,230 for Athens-Clarke police.

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