Kokomo, Howard County officials wait for $147 million local federal stimulus boost

There's a wish list circulating in cyberspace, containing more than $147 million worth of Kokomo-area projects deemed suitable for stimulus funding.

But the list, found on the U.S. Conference of Mayors Web site, is only the most public wish list in circulation.

Across the U.S., local and state officials are passing lists back and forth with their congressional representatives, changing priorities as the size and scope of the federal stimulus package changes.

The $147 million list, found at www.usmayors.org, is a compilation of wish list items from the city of Kokomo, the Kokomo Housing Authority, the metropolitan planning official and Kokomo-Center Schools.

It contains everything from a $35 million proposal for completely renovating Central Middle School to $50,000 for an already-built biodiesel production plant.

Even with estimates of the stimulus package heading upward of $900 billion, city officials concede only a fraction of the wish list stands a chance for funding.

"The purpose of the survey was just to show Congress we had projects ready to go," Kokomo city engineer Carey Stranahan said Friday. "If we could get it done by 2010, [the city] put it on the list."

The reality of the stimulus package isn't likely to match up very well with the billions in proposed projects listed on the U.S. Mayor's site, Stranahan warned.

Of the 25 projects submitted by the city of Kokomo, Stranahan said the only project truly "ready to go" and likely to receive stimulus funding is the final phase of the Dixon Road widening project.

City officials estimate widening Dixon between Sycamore Street and Judson Road will cost about $8.5 million. Normally, the project would consume several years' worth of the annual federal funding the city and county receive from federal gas tax revenue.

Stranahan said the latest information he has is the project might receive $4 million from the stimulus package. If that happens, it would free up road dollars for other projects - such as the extension of Boulevard out to U.S. 31.

"The state is trying to determine how to allocate transportation funds, and part of what we've been told is we need to obligate 50 percent of what we'll get within 75 days after the recovery act passes," Stranahan said.

The city has numerous other projects on the mayor's conference survey that would possibly be eligible for federal Community Development Block Grant funding.

The city normally gets about $1 million annually in CDBG funding, and the money can be spent in a variety of ways.

The problem with the stimulus bill, however, is there is no CDBG funding in the bill, Stranahan explained.

" ... We have to look at these projects, and if we really want to get them done, we have to find a different funding source," he said.

Two of those wish-list projects, running sewers and water lines out to the Darrough Chapel neighborhood, would cost about $1.8 million.

Even though the neighborhood is in the county, Stranahan said the city added the projects to the list just in case.

But the likelihood of Darrough Chapel receiving new sewers and water lines courtesy of the federal stimulus is remote, unless money comes to the project through a channel other than CDBG.

Howard County attorney Larry Murrell said up to $700,000 in grant funds and low-interest loans are still available for the Darrough Chapel project, but won't be used.

"Construction has to start this year," Murrell said. "That is not going to happen."

The county was to receive $300,000 in Rural Development grant funds and a $400,000 low-interest loan from the state. The estimated cost to bring sanitary sewers to the 126 houses in the subdivision is $1.3 million.

An effort was made to start work on the project last year with the Taylor Regional Wastewater District to be the agency sponsoring the grant and low-interest loans. Kokomo was to do the billing and treat the Darrough Chapel wastewater. Howard County was to provide $60,000 to complete the engineering and design work.

That effort came to an end when an agreement could not be reached between city and county officials.

Larry Ives, director of the Kokomo-Howard County Government Coordinating Council, said the list is those projects that might be done if the money becomes available.

Ives said they have been told to expect double the amount they are currently receiving, meaning $4 million would be available.

"Those would be immediate transportation funds, and no local match is involved," he said.

Ives said if funding for the Dixon Road project is approved, we could then use the available funds for the Morgan Street extension.

One item on the city's wish list is $1.5 million for a small-scale fixed route transit system.

"That's news to me," Ives said. "If you start a fixed route transit system, how do you continue to fund it?

"We're talking about capital projects that are a one-time expense," he said. "We don't want to saddle taxpayers with on-going expenses."