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Two county projects miss out on stimulus money
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| By: ADAM NORTHAM, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
March 04, 2009 |
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Additional highway maintenance funding funneled into Mississippi from the federal stimulus package will not benefit Lincoln County, leaving two "shovel-ready" projects submitted for funding by supervisors to either sit on the back burner or eat up precious, existing highway money, county officials said.
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County Engineer Jeff Dungan, of Dungan Engineering, PA, told supervisors Monday that both of the county's submitted road projects were turned down by the Office of State-Aid Road Construction, a division of the Mississippi Department of Transportation that assists counties with highway maintenance.
"Basically, we're back where we started," Dungan told supervisors Monday.
Supervisors had hoped to use funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to complete the paving of Caseyville Road in extreme western Lincoln County and resurface Industrial Park Road in the city.
The Caseyville project would see the road's eight miles of gravel paved for the first time, connecting Highway 550 to Franklin County's Highway 98. Supervisors have long wanted to repair Industrial Park Road's deep, water-holding ruts, sunken by years of heavy truck traffic to and from the Brookhaven Industrial Park.
Supervisors still plan to repair the road, Dungan said, using either $350,000 in Surface Transportation Program funds or 20 percent of the county's $2 million State-Aid Road Construction funds.
The road is in too great a state of deterioration to forego the project until next year, Dungan said. He cited the standing water that makes travel dangerous.
"It's something we need to take care of, and I think we need to do it this year," Dungan said. "With $400,000, we go a long way toward getting it in good shape."
District Five Supervisor Gary Walker said the Caseyville Road project might receive some stimulus funds, but they would come through allotments for the Homochitto National Forest. The road goes through the national forest.
Even that is not a given, Walker said.
"It's just a wait and see deal," he said. "I hope everybody can get a little piece of the pie, but I'm not gonna get my hopes up. I'm just gonna have a word of prayer and let it go."
Southwest Mississippi Planning and Development District Executive Director Wirt Peterson said it was too early to tell if Lincoln or other Southwest Mississippi counties would receive any direct stimulus funding. But so far, his office has not been notified of any forthcoming money, he said.
"We're expecting some money in for some additional childcare services, hopefully some aging programs from our office, but as far as project money going to cities and counties, we have not heard of any," he said. "(Community Development Block Grant) will get some, but they have not prepared their guidelines on how cities and counties can access that money."
So far, supervisors are not expecting any stimulus help. And it appears Lincoln County won't be the only one with projects left unfunded in the wake of the $787 billion stimulus package.
Dungan said the Office of State-Aid Road Construction received only $8 million in stimulus funding after requesting $88 million, a net of less than 10 percent.
Likewise, the Mississippi Department of Transportation requested around $600 million from the stimulus package and received $350 million, almost 60 percent. Dungan said State-Aid officials will only be able to fund approximately 10 road projects across Mississippi with stimulus funds.
The meager contribution to State-Aid funding was a blow to supervisors, who spent the whole of last year battling exorbitant fuel costs and skyrocketing material costs to work on fewer and fewer miles of road with a static funding supply
"There's nothing we can do about it," said District Two Supervisor Bobby Watts, whose district encompasses the most heavily damaged portions of Industrial Park Road. "We just hope for the best all around, but it's sad we didn't get everything we wanted. We may have to cut back some and rearrange some things."
Watts suggested the amount of Industrial Park Road that would be repaired would have to be shortened, a prospect Dungan mentioned at the meeting. Supervisors had originally submitted a project for stimulus funding that would have fixed the road in its entirety, but now plan to use their limited funding to repair only the worst sections, likely those from near the Wal-Mart Distribution Center west to Highway 51.
"We need to go that far, anyway - I hope we can," Watts said. "It's gotten too dangerous. Something's got to give. If you don't live here and go in it every day when it's raining, it'll throw you."
Board President the Rev. Jerry Wilson blamed the stimulus package's low funding levels for State-Aid on Mississippi's Republican congressional leadership, who voted against the bill, and Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, who has criticized the bill and plans to reject portions of it.
Wilson believes the low funding afforded the state from the stimulus package is punishment for Republican leaders' opposition.
"It's kind of bad, you know," he said. "In tough times, we try to work together and try to get things done. Quit trying to do something political and do what's right for the people. Now, we'll have to use the money we've got, and that's very little."
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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