(Updated, 11:20 a.m.)
PROVIDENCE – House Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino badgered state department heads Thursday about why they haven’t moved faster to spend the state’s share of the federal stimulus package.
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As of Jan. 9, the state had spent $551.25 million of the $1.26 billion authorized for the Ocean State – or about 44 percent – according to numbers provided by the R.I. Office of Economic Recovery and Reinvestment. Another $55.3 million has been budgeted for certain projects but not yet spent.
But during a Finance Committee hearing, Costantino repeatedly questioned why more of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) money hasn’t been put to use yet, considering the state’s sagging economic condition.
“You got the money in September and it’s January,” Costantino chided officials from the R.I. Department of Health who cited efforts to fight the swine flu outbreak as slowing down the move to award $812,758 worth of stimulus contracts in fiscal 2010. The department has spent $46,595 and another $51,351 in under contract, according to the Office of Economic Recovery and Reinvestment.
Less than 8 percent of $3.9 million, which represents the R.I. Department of Environmental Management’s share of the stimulus package, has been spent so far for such things as underground oil tank removals.
But when pressed, Terrance Maguire, DEM’s assistant director, said most of the rest of the money would be awarded by July.
Michael P. Lewis, director of the R.I. Department of Transportation, noted that more than 70 percent of the department’s $137 million chunk of the stimulus money has been either spent or awarded and that 19 “shovel ready” projects have already been completed.
He said his department has moved quickly to take advantage of the stimulus money. In fact, as part of the stimulus package, Lewis said, transportation departments were required to “obligate” at least 50 percent of the stimulus money within 120 days of the ARRA’s passage – the deadline that he said will pass in February – or risk losing the money. Lewis the DOT will meet that guideline.
Yet, he said, because of the large scope of some of the road projects, some spending may take a while. “The money only gets expended as the work is completed,” he explained.
An earlier version of the story had the state’s stimulus spending as of the end of December.
