By Bethany Nolan, Herald-Times
bnolan@heraldt.com
While Monroe County highway director Bill Williams knew his $22.4 million "wish list" of potential federal stimulus infrastructure projects was pretty lengthy, it's looking like the county will receive less money than he'd hoped.
He said figures he's seen show the state will receive about $657 million in funds for infrastructure. The Indiana Department of Transportation is taking about $460 million of that sum for its own projects, the state's largest cities will be allocated about $85 million and the state's mid-size cities will receive about $26 million, he said.
That leaves about $86 million for rural cities, towns and counties, which includes Monroe, Williams said. If decision-makers split that sum equally, that's about $14 million each for the six Indiana Department of Transportation subdistricts in the state. Monroe County is in the Seymour district, which includes 17 other counties.
So, while INDOT has said no county will end up with more than $3 million in stimulus funds, he's not sure some counties will even get that much.
"They've got it set up on a first-come, first-served basis," Williams said. "It's pretty much a gamble at this point. But it's one we're taking, for sure."