Big winners and losers in North Country counties in race for Federal stimulus $$$
Update: Please see Pete Klein's comment below for fresh dollar #s out of Hamilton County...
The on-line journalism project ProPublica has compiled some detailed break-downs of how President Barack Obama's stimulus money is being spent.
Here in New York, a lot of the money is going to statewide programs, but counties across the state are receiving an average of $177 per capita in spending on their priority projects -- everything from sewer upgrades to downtown beautification.
The biggest beneficiary is Albany county, where spending tops $680 per person.
But parts of the North Country are hoovering up a pretty good amount of cash as well: Jefferson County gobbled up $388 per person and Essex County is receiving $309 per person;
Other counties lag significantly behind the statewide average (all numbers are per capita):
Washington: $98.The absolute loser in this picture seems to be Hamilton County which won just $9 per person from the stimulus package, for a total of $45,000.
Lewis: $107.
St. Lawrence: $135.
Clinton: $127 per person.
Herkimer: $160.
Warren: $163.
Franklin: $170.
That money went to school districts in Indian Lake, Long Lake and the town of Wells.
Go to the ProPublica site and you can find out with remarkable detail what that money is being spent on.
Click on the county name or map and it'll take you to the full accounting.
posted by Brian Mann @ 8/06/2009 08:32:00 AM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Brian, an update on Hamilton County.
The County Highway Dept. was just awarded $860,000 in stimulus money for a bridge project in Indian Lake.
This is not a "winners" or "losers" thing.
If we must spend, and that theory of stimulus has never been proven, then it should be based on need, not on the number of people per county.
Hamilton County is huge. It has the lowest population density of any county in the state. Plus, the majority of land is Forest Preserve.
Are every one of these projects deserving of taxpayer funding? Or is it "Porkulus"?
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