Stimulus: Millions in grants, tons of scrutiny
NEW HAMPSHIRE UNION LEADER
By TOM FAHEY
State House Bureau Chief
CONCORD – More than $400 million in federal stimulus money has come to New Hampshire this year, and more is on the way.
The Office of Legislative Budget Assistant reported last week that $413.6 million made its way to the state under a list of programs that involve education, highways, environmental, health and human services, energy and law enforcement.
Deputy Attorney General Bud Fitch said last week that projections are the state will eventually see between $500 million and $750 million in stimulus funds.
Of that, $2 million has been tapped to provide oversight through a five-person Office of Economic Stimulus (OES) and to cover the cost of auditors at smaller agencies throughout state government.
The need to keep track of how federal funds are spent is critical, Fitch and others who track the money said last week. If federal auditors find any money misspent, the state is under threat of having to repay tens or hundreds of millions back to Washington.
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So far, a total of 50 jobs have been created by the funding, 34 of them full time. The OES will be headed by a director whom Gov. John Lynch has not yet appointed. All five OES jobs are described as full-time temporary positions that will go out of existence in September 2011, the end of the federal fiscal year.
The director can be paid up to $110,000 a year. There is no requirement that the Executive Council weigh in on Lynch's choice. Other positions will include an administrator of funds, paid a minimum of $66,400; two internal auditors, starting at $41,100; and a compliance review officer, starting at $34,900.
Fitch, who plans to resume full-time duties as deputy attorney general as soon as Lynch names the OES director, said the four staff members will be hired through normal personnel channels at the Department of Administrative Services. He hopes to have the jobs posted within the next week or so, he said.
Lynch press secretary Colin Manning said Lynch supports creation of the office, which will build on Fitch's work interpreting for lawmakers binders full of rules and regulations on stimulus programs.
"These are significant funds, and we need to make sure we use them in complete compliance with federal laws. That's what the funds for this office allow us to do," Manning said.
After a tough budget year, both Democrats and Republicans are wary of creating jobs that have to be funded long into the future. Members of both parties said they expect the jobs to end when the funding ends in 27 months.
Senate Minority Leader Peter Bragdon, R-Milford, was most skeptical.
"These are allegedly temporary jobs. It's like a temporary tax," he said with a laugh. But he agreed the oversight office is necessary.
"One of the things they say at the federal level is there will be a lot of accountability and auditing, so obviously we need some infrastructure in place," he said.
House Finance Committee Chairman Rep. Marjorie Smith, D-Durham, said, "The last thing this state needs is to take money for specific purposes and either not use it the way we are supposed to or, maybe even worse, use it as we are supposed to but not properly document that and then face having to repay the money."
Emphasis in the federal government from the start of the stimulus program, named the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has been on transparency and accountability, Fitch said.
Actual funding for the OES will be closer to $1.5 million for salaries, benefits and expenses, he said. The remaining $500,000 will be for positions at other departments.
He said the OES role will be twofold: "Get people to spend the money properly with a paper trail so spending can be followed, and two, to get the proper reports to the federal government."
There are also funds that will not go through the OES. The Department of Resources and Economic Development and the University System of New Hampshire, for example, are preparing to apply for some of the several billions of dollars available nationally in broadband technology grants, Fitch said.
Health information technology is another area where billions are available as the Obama administration tries to move toward electronic medical records. Hospitals, clinics and physician practices will deal directly with the federal government on the grants.
Law enforcement grants and fire station and emergency services grants are also direct programs.
"We don't touch those as a state, but we provide any assistance we can, and we don't manage the money," Fitch said.
The lone vote against accepting the $2 million for the OES expansion was Bragdon's. He said the documents outlining the spending plan came to him too late for him to simply approve it.
Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, said the state "can't take a chance" on winging it with stimulus dollars. He said that when the No Child Left Behind Act came along, intended to improve education nationwide, the state had to accept program dollars or lose out on other grants, too.
"The feds were playing hardball with that and they might just as well on this program.
A small mistake could have very significant consequences, they say. We don't know, but it's probably very prudent to avoid the risk."
UnionLeader.com - New Hampshire news, business and sports - Stimulus: Millions in grants, tons of scrutiny - Monday, Jul. 13, 2009 (13 July 2009)
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