Towns feel left out

Stimulus programs explained

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — Money flowing from the federal government is making its way to local residents through a bewildering array of programs and agencies. And since President Barack Obama signed the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on February 17, some aspects of the bill have become a bit clearer, but many details have yet to be worked out.

James J. Hanson, a representative from governor David Paterson’s office, told town and county officials gathered at the government center on April 1, “It’s going to take you a few weeks to begin to understand all of this.” But after hearing from six Albany officials, elected officials at the town level were not entirely pleased with what they’d heard.

“This is a party to which we’ve not been invited,” said Robert Fiore, supervisor of the Town of Mamakating.

Bill Eschenberg, highway superintendent of the Town of Delaware, asked, “Are they spending money just to spend money or to do the right thing?”

The frustration stemmed from the fact that necessary town projects, such as getting new pavement down on town roads, are not eligible for funding. Specifically, in the transportation portion of the ARRA, New York State will receive $1.12 billion from the federal government. But town roads are not eligible because they are not listed with the Federal Highway Administration. Moreover, the grants coming through ARRA are to be reimbursed, meaning the towns would need to put up the money first, then be repaid; many towns are not in a strong enough financial position to do that.

Eschenberg’s comment on the funds’ distribution was, “It’s wrong.”

Jack Williams of the New York State Department of Transportation begged to differ. He said the program may not go deep enough, but it is doing some good at various levels. Sullivan County, for instance, should be getting about $2.5 million to put toward transportation infrastructure projects. The county has come up with a plan to use the funds to paint 24 bridges, add new signage and enhance some of the traffic signals on county roads. The bulk of the funds would go toward bridge painting.

Edward McAndrew of the Sullivan County Department of Public Works said bridge painting is more costly than people might think because the workers must deal with the treatment of toxic materials, such as lead paint and asbestos on the bridges, which pushes the price up.

Before the plan goes forward, however, it must be approved by Paterson’s office.

Transportation was just one area of ARRA funding that was discussed at the meetings; the others were education, energy, environment, housing, and sewer and water. Go to www.recovery.ny.gov for more information on the New York ARRA programs.