By Rod Rose, Zionsville Times Sentinel
Business, local government, schools, individuals and fire departments in Boone County have received at least $15.7 million in federal stimulus money, according to various sources.
The figure, charting American Recovery and Reinvestment Act spending, excludes money for highway projects. In April, Boone County was given $855,000, the first-ever federal appropriation the county has received, for work on the 146th Street corridor project. The grant covers engineering costs and buying right-of-way. The project includes upgrading 146th (County Road 300 South) from the Hamilton County line to U.S. 421, improving 146th Street from 421 to Whitestown, extending County Road 400 South, improving County Road 400 East and replacing the Indiana 267 interchange at Interstate-65.
Passed by Congress in February, the ARRA is intended to revive the U.S. economy by distributing $275 billion in federal contracts, grants and loans; providing $224 billion in additional funding for health care; and giving $288 billion in tax cuts.
More than $6.9 million has been awarded the county's school corporations, according to recovery.gov, the official U.S. government stimulus Web site.
Zionsville Community Schools have received $3 million. The Lebanon Community School Corp. has received $2.25 million in two grants from the education department and another $7,500 from the Agriculture Department. Western Boone schools received $993,850; Sheridan Community School Corp. (which includes Boone's Marion Township) was awarded $678,540.
Indiana's Department of Education has distributed more than $610 million to school districts; more than $3.5 million in payments less than $25,000 to 2,335 businesses; and 74 payments of more than $25,000, totaling $13.9 million.
Six Lebanon businesses have received federal stimulus loans from the Small Business Administration according to www.ProPublica.org, a not-for-profit investigative reporting Web site founded by former managing editors of The Wall Street Journal and The Oregonian of Portland, Ore. The companies received the loans because none could obtain credit through private lenders, according to recovery.gov.
ProPublica said the largest business loan in Boone County was the $234,000 to IGH Steel Fabrication Inc., 1334 W. Main St.
Other Lebanon-area companies receiving the loans include:
• Tru Temp Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc., 4665 S. 200 E., Lebanon, received $50,000;
• Alpha and Omega Machine Tool, Inc., 532 S. Meridian St., Lebanon, $30,000;
• Isenhower Enterprises, Inc., 895 Lyn Lea Lane, $25,000;
• Donald B. Sloan, doing business as The Sloan Agency, 200 S. Lebanon St., $12,000.
The Small Business Administration also loaned $50,000 to Zionsville Holistic Chiropractic and Wellness, 1620 W. Oak St., Zionsville, and $53,050 to Better Bodies Village of West Clay Inc., 7031 Mayflower Park Dr., Indianapolis. The SBA included Better Bodies Village in the list of Boone businesses.
More than $8.3 million has been loaned to home buyers through the Rural Home Administration, ProPublica found in an assessment of stimulus spending.
ProPublica compiled the list using www.recovery.gov and www.USAspending.gov, which tracks loans made by federal agencies.
Thorntown received a $172,000 rural development grant from the Rural Housing Service to help build a new fire station for the Thorntown/Sugar Creek Fire Department, ProPublica said.
The Lebanon Area Boys & Girls Club received $42,500 through the Justice Department. Part of a $44.4 million grant to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the money is to expand programs and maintain services.
While more than $3 billion has been authorized in ARRA money for Indiana, only $848,420,000 had been awarded, according to recovery.gov. The government said the money has created 18,876 jobs.
ProPublica and USA Today collaborated on a story assessing public school repair needs. By their estimate, Indiana needs $3.9 billion to repair its schools, but has only $209 million in bond authority and has sold $36 million in bonds.