How Antionne Thompson and Stachowski wasted the stimulus
A new government report found that Democrat-led Albany has spent less than 3 percent of its billions of dollars in federal stimulus on new construction projects that create jobs.

Most of the money was used to plug gaps in the Democrat-crafted, out-of-balance state budget, as well as routine and overdue maintenance projects, like cleaning and repainting bridges, the GAO report found.
The extra money will soon run out, though, creating even bigger problems for budget writers.

New York state has used most of its economic stimulus funding so far to plug holes in its budget and has spent very little on new highway construction, according to a federal watchdog.

A Government Accountability Office report last week said the state has not yet delivered millions of dollars to school districts and colleges, but districts are already planning for the money and estimating the number of jobs they will save and create.

For example, SUNY officials said they expected the stimulus funding at their two-year schools would mean 550 jobs through retention and hiring. They also said they would not have to raise tuition as much as expected, the report said.

The GAO is closely following New York’s spending. It is visiting agencies and job sites around the state. The oversight agency is expected to deliver a report to Congress on New York and 15 other large states every 60 days.

Across the country, 90 percent of the $29 billion sent to states has been spent so far on increased Medicaid and public education funding.

New York has used $6.2 billion to close gaps in the state budget. The federal government intended for states to use the money to stabilize their budgets and it was especially important to New York since the state took a historic revenue hit from the collapse of Wall Street.

But the extra state money will soon run out, leaving behind the same state government machine that spends billions more than it takes in. Gov. David Paterson’s staff said it was working on an exit strategy to be revealed at the end of the year, when the next budget proposal is introduced to the Legislature. The state counties association, school districts and members of Congress have warned the state it needs to plan for the federal stimulus money to dry up.

U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt, said he will be watching for that exit strategy.

“You can plug the hole now, but they’ve also got to take the steps necessary to make sure that they’re changing their policy over the next two years,” Maffei said.

Matt Anderson, a spokesman for Paterson’s budget office, assure that this year’s budget fix was only a first step.

“It’s going to take significant effort to control spending over the next few years,” he said.

On transportation projects, the state has spent most of its federal stimulus money so far on maintenance work, such as cleaning bridges and repaving roads. That’s because the state needed to identify tand start projects quickly. It takes about six weeks to advertise and award a highway contract and contractors are reimbursed only after the work is complete.

By the end of June, the state Department of Transportation had awarded 34 contracts and reimbursed only about $2.1 million of the $1.12 billion given to the state this year for transportation. Less than 3 percent of the projects designated so far are new construction, the report said.

Read more at: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/stimulus_money_plugs_budget_ga.html