Stimulus funds only go so far
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By WILSON RING The Associated Press - Published: June 10, 2009
MONTPELIER — The second day that Vermont's top economic recovery official Tom Evslin was on the job, he was approached by a delegation from Morristown's Centennial Library looking for federal stimulus money to help expand the 96-year-old building.
Morristown Library Trustee chair Sue Sargent said they had heard President Barack Obama say some of the money could be used for library projects. But three months later, the library is still scratching for funds to begin construction on its $1.9 million effort.
The bottom line is how the state, the governor and the Legislature allocated the stimulus money, Sargent said.
"There's no place in there where libraries can apply," she said. "We thought we had a terrific project. We were gung-ho and eager, and we have nothing to show for it."
The Morristown project was a good one, but like other local projects across the state, it could not be funded, Evslin said Tuesday.
"In a lot of towns, the hope immediately sprung up, 'wow, this is the way to do the project we've always been dreaming about,"' he said. "In almost every case, the answer has been 'you can't do that.'"
Evslin said the money Vermont has received as part of the federal stimulus package has helped ease the effects of the current recession, but hasn't been a cure all and many people ended up disappointed.
Of the $721 million the state expects to receive over two years, more than $17 million can be used for local projects, such as library or town hall renovations. But of that, about $8 million has gone so far to state programs related to public safety, economic development, tourism and marketing — not local projects, Evslin said.
"That's a perfectly legitimate use of it," he added. "In theory, people could lobby their legislators and try to get a piece of the $8.5 million that's left next year for next (fiscal) year."
Evslin said that Vermont overall has done well with the stimulus money. A number of highway projects, for instance, are under way that would not have been possible without it, he said.
Officials who had hoped for some of the $17.1 million can look for funds from other areas, but many likely will end up disappointed.
Sargent said the Morristown library hasn't been expanded since it was built in 1913. They've raised about $600,000. If they could have gotten some stimulus money they could have begun construction.
Now, she said, "We're trying to think of ways in which we might be able to creatively at least get started."
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