Stimulus Funds for Little Axe
Ever wonder how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (federal stimulus money) is working for Little Axe? Well, here’s what we found.
First we went to Recovery.gov, the U.S. government’s official $18 million website providing access to data related to Recovery Act (ARRA) spending (full text of bill). The goals of the $789.5 billion program are:
* Providing $288 billion in tax cuts and benefits for millions of working families and businesses
* Increasing federal funds for education and health care as well as entitlement programs (such as extending unemployment benefits) by $224 billion
* Making $275 billion available for federal contracts, grants and loans
* Requiring recipients of Recovery funds to report quarterly on the amount of monies spent, the status of the project, the number of jobs created and/or saved, and other details, all of which are posted on Recovery.gov so that the public can track where the total $787 billion Recovery funds are going and how they are being spent.
As of Oct. 30, the site reports a little more than $130 billion has been awarded in some 130,000 grants, contracts and loans.
Oklahoma Stimulus Money
Oklahoma has $2,038,744,108 allocated for 3,573 projects, with $492,815,176 actually received by the state so far. Oklahoma’s stimulus website, Recovery.ok.gov, also aims to follow stimulus spending. This dated graph shows allocations by category.
As can be seen by the date on this chart, which is displayed on the website’s front page, Oklahoma is having trouble keeping up with the funding transparency requirements of the Recovery Act. The state legislature may have fallen short in an attempt to address this need earlier this year. OKLAHOMA HOUSE BILL 1966:
A. The Legislature finds that provisions of federal law contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, HR 1 of the 1st Session of the 111th Congress of the United States, may require enactments or modifications to the laws of the State of Oklahoma in order to maximize the value and advantages of the federal legislation.
B. The purpose of this act shall be to implement the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in order to make the best and most efficient use of the resources available to the citizens of the State of Oklahoma.
Tracking exact stimulus funding for Little Axe is difficult in many ways. Different tax breaks and extended unemployment benefits are but two areas that are hard to quantify. For instance, grants such as $1.88 million to CART for the purchase of five new buses may benefit Little Axe by providing more transportation opportunities to low income residents.
Education is a major recipient of stimulus funding and the Little Axe School District didn’t miss out. Money allocated to the District so far:
Cafeteria Equipment – $6,269
Education Budget Stabilization – $310,316
At Risk Students – $231,795
PreSchool Disabilities – $7,569
Special Education – $288,385
Little Axe Stimulus Loans
Two loans using stimulus money are shown for area code 73026. These loans are for businesses that are unable to obtain financing in the private credit marketplace.
THUNDERBIRD CHAPEL LLC
Amount: $511,600
BILCO CONSTRUCTION INC
Amount: $22,500
We were able to locate one other local project using stimulus funds. Though it is not yet listed on Recovery.gov, the grant was announced by the news media last month.
Clean Water State Revolving Fund American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“ARRA Funds”) $692,773
The applicant will utilize the funding proceeds to take actions at Lake Thunderbird towards meeting water quality standards. Lake Thunderbird is a priority watershed in Oklahoma with an extensive 319 non-point source program and is listed as having impaired water quality due to high turbidity, high color, high chlorophyll-a, and low dissolved oxygen. The project at Lake Thunderbird will withdraw water from the lake bottom, oxygenate it to 300% (310 mg/l), and return the supersaturated water back into the lower lake layer, restoring the dissolved oxygen levels to beneficial use and reduce summer chlorophyll-a levels. The project consists of a supersaturated dissolved oxygen injection system chamber, control panel, programmable logic controller, pumps and motors, and related appurtenances.
