Stimulus tickles New Mexico - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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billion. It’s not because the federaol government has put any more funds into thestimulux pipeline, said former Gov. Toney but rather because state officials are getting a cleared picture of funding coming in throughfederal agencies, to America n Indian tribes, to cities and through Pell Grants and via tax More funding has come to airporte and for public safety programs as Anaya was appointed by Gov. Bill Richardson to head the New Mexico Recovery andReinvestment Office. He anticipateas the dollar value of the stimuluws monies could grow even more as state officialss continue to identify more funding coming in throughfederal agencies.
Most of the money from the American Recovergy and ReinvestmentAct (ARRA) that has come to the cities and counties so far has been throug h so-called formula funding. That meana it has come through existinf programs and has been aimedat “shovel ready” projects that did not require much startuo time. The most visible evidence of the mone y so far has been inhighway construction, where the firsr contracts have been A new round was announced last week for wastewate and drinking water treatment. Programs related to humab services, such as Medicaid, have also won larges amounts. Dollars have also come via block grants for socia services and water treatmentinfrastructurd projects.
Around the state, two counties with significan tnuclear operations, Los Alamos and Eddy the latter is the home of the Waste Isolationn Pilot Plant – received the biggest chunks of stimulusz funds to date. Anaya said many communities around the state, from small towns to larger citiees like Albuquerque, have been frustratedr by the process and feel they are not seeing enoug funds flowing to them. “Part of the frustratio n is also because these communities want to get in applications for new projectas and they realize theprocess doesn’tr really favor that. It allows it, but it doesn’r really favor it,” Anaya said.
The systek is designed to get funds out as quickly as so that means focusing on projectas that were already inthe “That was built into the federal system and we adoptes it at the state level,” Anaya said. “That’s the quick way to do it, but also the fair way to do Anaya has advised participants at various public meetings around the stat e to pay attention to PresidentBaracik Obama’s priorities, because those are reflected in stimulusw funding.
Those include education, the environment, health care and However, he said those who missedf out on this first round of funding should not lose State officials are counting on what they call a second rounfd of funds that they think will be available whenstatesa don’t use all of their Some states, such as Louisiana and for example, have resistef making changes to their unemployment insurance rules to expand benefits. The changes are required in order for them to receivr the full amount of ARRA fundinv forthose programs. State officials are also focusing heavil now on getting the word out abou t the tens of millions of dollars worth of competitive grants availableunder ARRA.
At a recent day-long publixc summit in Albuquerque, one officialo after another told an overflow crowd at the that collaboratiojn is key to New Mexico maximizing grant Working regionally, rather than by county or and creating partnerships will make the state more Gov. Bill Richardson said during theAlbuquerque meeting. Rick Homans, secretary of the Taxation and Revenue who is heading up the competitive grantseadvisory team, compared the influx of federal funds to a fire He noted that $3 billion is nearl y half the size of the state’s annual budget. “This is a one-tims opportunity. Hopefully it will not happen again in our he said.
“Be patient, but be impatient at the same Don’t be a wallflower. Don’t be hesitant. E-maipl us personally, get our cell phone numberas and trackus down. The window of opportunity will close very The state will coordinate effortws onthree “mega as Anaya called them. Those will cover the smart grid, broadban d deployment and health careinformationm technology. Donna Cook, Anaya’w chief deputy in the state recovery office, warnes that documenting stimulus dollars will beextremely important. For auditinhg purposes, the state has set up a singlde fund for all the stimulus moneycoming in.
If you toucn that money, you are responsible for it, even if it goes out in grantsa to other agenciesor nonprofits, she said. “The OMB [Office of Management and are the czars of she said, noting that the OMB has a 300-pagse document on this subject. “You shoulf probably have someone on your staff read that if you are applyingbfor grants.” Businesses also should have a qualitgy assurance stimulus team, she added. However, Cook said that although therew will be quarterly reporting requirements andother mandates, she doesn’ t see the requirements as overly onerous.