Gov. Timothy M. Kaine noted today that state agencies have reported more than 5,900 jobs created or saved from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds flowing through the State Treasury. To date, more than $5 billion in ARRA contracts, grants and loans have been awarded in Virginia, with more than half in the form of direct aid to localities and organizations outside of state government.
“President Obama’s Recovery Act was intended to get the economy moving again and in Virginia we are beginning to see that occur,” Kaine said. “These funds have allowed us to begin construction on infrastructure projects that we would not have been able to build, keep our Medicaid plan funded, improve our schools and in some cases build new ones, and expand unemployment benefits to those most affected by the economic crisis.”
As part of the first Recovery Act reporting period, 34 state agencies submitted 415 spending and job reports to the Recovery.gov website. Those include 130 formula grants – where federal rules dictate the distribution – and 285 competitive grants and contracts. Of the approximately $2.2 billion awarded through these actions, about $150 million has been spent. Including distributions not included in reporting requirements to date, such as Medicaid and unemployment benefits, Virginia state agencies have received and disbursed more than $1 billion to citizens, local governments and businesses.
The Governor’s Recovery Act team submitted its data by the October 10 deadline set by section 1512 of the Recovery Act. The vast majority of spending information to date, including Virginia’s reports, is scheduled to be posted on the federal Recovery Act website today.
The State of Virginia is expected to manage $4.8 billion in ARRA funding by 2011. Some of the larger areas funded include:
– $984 million to the fiscal stabilization fund for education programs with another $500 million flowing to local school divisions;
– $620 million for Medicaid reimbursement to date, with the remaining of the $900 million allocated to be drawn down as needed;
-More than $399 million in new transportation infrastructure projects to date, with more than $700 million allocated;
– More than $100 million in new clean water and wastewater infrastructure projects;
– $33 million in weatherization funding obligated to 22 regional agencies, with a total of $94 million allocated;
– $38 million for child care programs administered by local social service departments;
– $268 million committed to transit capital, including Metro;
– $11 million to combat homelessness.
Additionally, Virginia has authorized $71 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds to eight K-12 school construction projects while another $119 million in similar competitive bonds is open to all school divisions for energy efficiency renovations and retrofits.
Virginia’s institutions of higher education have won competitive grants including $40 million to the University of Virginia, $35 million to Virginia Commonwealth University and $24 million to Virginia Tech to date.
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