County seeks recovery money

Sullivan shovel-ready projects pushed

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — It’s not yet clear just how much money President-elect Barack Obama plans to pump into the economy to stave off another Great Depression, but analysts agree it’s going to be a lot. Estimates suggest that $750 billion to more than one trillion will be poured into infrastructure and other projects across the country. And while there are attempts by Republicans in Washington DC to slow the momentum of the recovery bill (formerly referred to as a stimulus bill), most agree that it will be passed shortly after Obama is inaugurated on January 20.

That has local and state officials nationwide identifying possible projects worthy of recovery funds and actively seeking to participate in the coming flow of dollars. As Charles Nesbitt, president of the NYS Association of County Administrators, put it, “With the state facing its largest budget deficit in history, we are not banking on federal stimulus trickling down on its own. It needs to be targeted to local projects that can create jobs and enable critical infrastructure projects in our communities.”

Sullivan County officials have been identifying projects that would likely fit.

Some federal officials have speculated that the money spent to rebuild and repair highways and bridges could be $25 billion; others said it could be twice that much. As it happens, there is plenty of roadwork that could be done in Sullivan County. According to county manager David Fanslau, the Department of Public Works has asked the Federal Highway Administration for $15.5 million for road and bridge projects.

But county officials hope for more than that. County chairman Jonathan Rouis met with representatives of Senator Chuck Schumer’s office, Senator Hillary Clinton’s office, Congressman Maurice Hinchey’s office and Governor David Paterson’s office in mid December to discuss other possibilities. They included the new state-mandated county jail, the green tech park at Sullivan County Community College, the Center for Advanced Science and Technology (CAST) at the college and the Liberty Agriculture and Light Industry Park.

Fanslau said, “We’re making our federal legislators aware that we have projects ready to go as they are developing this stimulus package. We’re going to keep monitoring that and we’re going to participate with the NYS Association of Counties and the National Association of Counties to make sure that Sullivan County projects stay high on the priority list.

Asked about the likelihood of getting the funds, Fanslau said it’s very likely that the highway and bridges projects will be funded. He said for the other projects that it’s going to take some creative thinking on the part of Congress. He said, for instance, “There is already a commitment for some federal funds for the ag park in Liberty, so that could become a priority. There’s a lot of activity on the President-elect’s agenda regarding renewable energy, and certainly the green tech park fits right into that like a glove. So it’s a matter of looking at what federal departments get what parts of the stimulus package and we’ll have Sullivan County projects positioned to attach to as many different funding sources as possible.”