State, feds spar over stimulus performance
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Florida is either a leader or dead last when it comes to putting federal stimulus dollars to work on road projects designed to create new jobs.
It all depends on who is spinning the numbers and assumptions.
Gov. Charlie Crist and other Florida officials have been sparring over the issue with the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and its chairman, Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., for the past week.
The dispute began when Crist, a Republican who bucked his party’s national leaders to support the stimulus program, received a letter last Thursday from Oberstar saying Florida ranked last among the 50 states and District of Columbia and urging him to “refocus your efforts.”
The committee’s rankings are based on outdated and simplistic data that results in broad and misleading generalizations, Florida officials wrote in a letter to Oberstar on Monday. The response was signed by the state’s “stimulus czar,” Don Winstead, and Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos.
“We’re being thorough, we’re being thoughtful and we’re being prudent,” Crist said Tuesday. “We will do it with a process that has integrity rather than speed.”
Oberstar issued a statement Wednesday reiterating Florida’s ranking is based on information submitted by the state showing “it lags behind the other 49 states and the District of Columbia.” As for being outdated, committee spokeswoman Mary Kerr said all states had the same deadline.
The rankings show how the states stacked up on June 30 using a formula that counts three factors. The percentages of projects put out to bid and of funds allocated each count for 25 percent of a state’s ranking while projects under way count for half.
Oberstar’s letter also said Florida’s projects under way total only 2 percent of $1.3 billion in transportation stimulus money. At least one other state – Hawaii – ranked lower with no projects under way.
Florida officials say the rankings are misleading because some states got credit for getting work going quickly by substituting the federal money on projects they’d already funded to free up state dollars for other things.
In defending the rankings, Kerr said states have wide discretion and fund swapping is legal.
Florida officials argue that such moves don’t create new jobs until the freed-up state money is used on other projects.
“Florida opted against supplanting funds, but the fact that we have been one of the fastest to obligate Recovery Act funds is a reasonable indication that our true new job creation is occurring rapidly,” Winstead and Kopelousos wrote.
Florida’s obligation rate as of June 30 was nearly 80 percent – but that factor gets no weight in the committee’s formula.
“What we’re utilizing stimulus moneys for are new projects that provide for new jobs in a meaningful way,” Crist said.
Florida officials also say states have different bidding procedures. Florida’s process may take more time but “it ensures the integrity of how those dollars are spent,” Crist said.
Florida’s roads also are in good shape compared to many other states so most of its stimulus money is going for new construction rather than repaving projects that are quicker to get going, Winstead and Kopelousos wrote.