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AZTEC — Nine months since the so-called economic stimulus bill was set into motion, the federal money awarded to San Juan County-operated projects hasn't created a single job in the area.
The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is intended to spark investment and new job creation amid the weakened economy. From that amount, $2.1 million is expected to go to the San Juan County government.
Approved projects include $153,000 for the Sheriff's Office to purchase 56 new law enforcement radios and $1 million set aside for reconstruction of a damaged bridge on County Road 2900, north of Aztec.
County leaders anticipate stimulus funds will bring at least $600,000 for the Kirtland wastewater project that will connect the community with the Farmington public sewer system, and nearly $330,000 for an energy-efficiency audit of county facilities designed to reduce energy demand.
But despite the plans, the intended job creation hasn't followed.
Although two of the county's four projects are construction projects expected to create new jobs in the community, the formalities associated with acquiring the federal money have slowed the start of planned stimulus projects, local officials said.
"The impression I had initially is that they're going to get the most money out and
Recipients of the stimulus money have until Feb. 17 to enter into contracts that commit the use of the federal money.
Unclear measures
Of the county's planned projects, only the purchase of Sheriff's Office equipment actually has spent the federal money. New Motorola radios were ordered, but not yet received, Sheriff Bob Melton said.
Although the San Juan County Web site lists the $153,000 equipment purchase as creating two jobs, Melton said those jobs aren't local ones.
"It would probably be on the Motorola end, rather than the law enforcement end," Melton said.
That new jobs number was drafted through a government formula and reported to the county as the expected job creation for the project, Thompson said.
"You can't look at how many jobs is it going to create in San Juan County. It's how many jobs is it going to create in the U.S.," Thompson said.
An e-mail sent to county officials from the National Association of Counties in May details the formula as equating a hypothetical new job created for every $92,000 in stimulus money awarded.
Using that model, the Sheriff's Office equipment grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice creates nearly 1.7 jobs.
Increased reporting
The lion's share of the stimulus funds going to San Juan County projects is the proposed construction on a new bridge on County Road 2900, a needed improvement listed near the top of the county's 2010 construction priorities.
Found to be the county's worst bridge in a March 2008 bridge survey, the county in July was awarded $1 million in stimulus money in addition to more than $200,000 in other federal funds to rebuild the bridge.
The project eventually could require the labor of more than 15 construction workers to complete the four-month project, but construction won't begin until at least January as the county has worked for months to develop construction plans and accommodate additional requirements associated with the stimulus dollars, county Public Works Administrator Dave Keck said.
"Getting the contracts in place with the federal government, I think we've done a very good job, and N.M. (Department of Transportation) is very pleased with the way we've performed and got this project ready to go to bid," Keck said. "The reporting requirements are about triple of a normal project. You just have to be more careful."
Official job creation figures for the bridge project won't be available until a contractor is awarded the project in January, however the San Juan County Web site reports the expected creation of 11 jobs with the funds.
According to the state Department of Transportation, which granted the $1 million stimulus to the bridge plan, projects were considered based on their ability to meet the federal deadline in February rather than what could get started immediately.
The so-called shovel-ready projects often were in preliminary stages and needed additional time to complete planning before stimulus money could be disbursed and construction workers could be paid, said Karyn Lujan, the regional Department of Transportation spokeswoman.
"We want everything to happen as soon as we can, but we also want to have accurate documentation," she said.
State spending slows
The stimulus spending may be slow to reach the local level, but the federal funds are coming at a time where they create a true benefit to the community, the county assistant CEO said.
A majority of government money funding capital projects comes from the state level, Thompson said.
Although the state government has frozen all capital spending in an attempt to fix a $650 million budget deficit, projects that utilize stimulus money are cleared to proceed, she said.
Without the federal stimulus funds, needed projects such as the Kirtland public sewer construction would be put on hold by the state, Thompson said. Stimulus money is expected to pay approximately $600,000 of the nearly $4 million project.
"Because the state has put a hold on many capital outlay projects, a lot of the construction has slowed down from local government," she said. "With the stimulus funding in place, we're able to move forward."
The Kirtland wastewater project, under development for nearly 10 years to connect Kirtland with the city of Farmington's public sewer line, is being developed to reduce the need for environmentally hazardous septic systems in the San Juan River basin with the support of state and federal environmental regulators.
But after months of consideration from the state Environment Department, the stimulus award anticipated for the Kirtland wastewater project still is changing its value and no formal contract is signed to guarantee the stimulus money will come.
A secondary expectation for receiving the sewer funding is the county's commitment to a $230,000 loan program to pay a portion of the project, underscoring the case-by-case requirements to qualify for stimulus funds.
County officials are hoping the award will be finalized quickly and construction can begin by February. The project's job-creation potential was not reported.
Looking for more
The $2.1 million in stimulus funding that San Juan County is looking toward to continue government construction projects in the area could be the last of the available stimulus. However, a second round of government funds likely will make new projects available in the coming year, County Executive Keith Johns said.
The prospect of new jobs and new development in San Juan County is worth the strict requirements and the waiting periods, county officials said.
"I think from the county standpoint, we're going to keep watching and keep looking," Johns said. "We'll be applying for every stimulus package that looks like it applies to us."
James Monteleone: jmonteleone@daily-times.com
