Yet a look at the largest projects in South Sound shows that much of the stimulus spending locally still lies ahead.
In Thurston, Pierce and South King counties, the top 20 stimulus projects not related to education received a total of $176 million in funding. About 20 percent of that money had been spent as of February, the first anniversary of when the stimulus package became law.
The picture was similar statewide, said Jill Satran, Gov. Chris Gregoire’s economic recovery coordinator. Of the more than $7 billion in stimulus awards received throughout Washington, Satran estimated that about $1.6 billion had been spent as of February. That’s a little less than 23 percent of the total.
In South Sound, many of the biggest-ticket items – eight of the top 20 – had yet to break ground.
Four of the other largest stimulus efforts had barely begun, including two military contracts receiving a combined $22 million and rental housing at Tacoma’s Salishan housing development that received $11.8 million.
Among the 20 biggest local awards, the only grant that was entirely spent by the end of last month was $4.6 million to help Sound Transit continue extending commuter rail from Tacoma to Lakewood.
The only other big awards that were mostly spent were those for work force training.
The largest two investments in South Sound – new car-pool lanes on Interstate 5 in Fife and a Port of Tacoma railroad overpass – started construction last year but won’t be completed until 2011.
Satran said the package is working as designed: some funds went out quickly, while others will be spent steadily over two years or more.
“There was an initial wave of money that got out and had a big impact,” Satran said. “Then, there’s been a constant stream of jobs that have kind of kept things stable over time.”
Republican critics, however, say high unemployment numbers and a slow rate of spending show the stimulus package has failed. According to the state Employment Security Department, Washington’s unemployment rate rose from 7.5 percent in January 2009 to 9.3 percent in January 2010.
“It was more about politics than about getting the economy moving again,” said Luke Esser, chairman of the Washington State Republican Party. “It’s clear the bill did nothing to help the economy and put people back to work.”
Local award recipients say stimulus money has helped them retain employees and begin work they couldn’t have afforded otherwise.
But many said they’re just getting started.
That’s partly because some awards weren’t announced until late last year or early 2010, Satran said. A few big grants are to be awarded in the coming weeks.
SLOW GETTING STARTED
In South Sound, $10.5 million in road work on I-5 between Lacey and Tacoma has yet to begin.
Crews will replace more than 200 aging concrete panels that make up the 20-mile stretch of freeway. Up to three lanes at a time will be closed in some areas.
Work is expected to begin about April 1 and is bound to tie up traffic this spring and summer.
The project has taken longer to start than other major highway projects funded with stimulus dollars because it wasn’t on the state’s top priority list to receive funds last year, said Kelly Stowe, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.
Work is getting done now partly because low bids on the state’s higher-priority transportation projects left millions in federal money for some second-tier projects, she said.
Additionally, officials couldn’t secure permits for some roadwork higher up the list.
DOT officials didn’t find out they’d have enough money for the I-5 panel replacement until July, about three or four months after the first transportation stimulus projects had been selected, Stowe said.
By then, it was too late for last year’s summer construction season, Stowe said.
“All of our work is weather-dependent,” Stowe said.
The Lacey-to-Tacoma roadwork should wrap up this August, said Lisa Copeland, spokeswoman for the DOT’s Olympic Region.
Stimulus work to renovate the military museum at Joint Base Lewis-McChord was 1.5 percent complete, said Mickey Traugutt, a project manager with Gig Harbor’s Wade Perrow Construction.
The museum renovation received $9.5 million in stimulus money and is scheduled for completion this fall. Traugutt said only two jobs had resulted from the project as of February.
Regardless, Traugutt said his company would be in much worse shape than it is now without its two big stimulus contracts. Wade Perrow is also the contractor for a $2.9 million upgrade of visiting quarters at McChord Field, a project that is mostly complete and had created an estimated 13.05 full-time jobs, he said.
“These contracts are absolutely keeping our guys and our subcontractors on the job,” Traugutt said. “We’re doing less and less private work, so this is what’s keeping us busy.”
Confusion about conflicting federal and state wage rules delayed much of the state’s stimulus-funded housing weatherization work last year.
Local agencies that help make buildings more energy-efficient waited months for federal and state guidance, causing little work to take place until December. Gov. Gregoire sharply criticized the slow progress last fall.
Things are now moving forward as planned, said John Walsh, CEO of the Community Action Council of Lewis, Mason and Thurston Counties, which administers low-income housing weatherization money.
By February, Walsh’s agency had weatherized 128 units in its region and had another 44 units in progress using stimulus dollars, he said.
“I think there’s a wrong impression that we haven’t been doing anything,” Walsh said. “We’re actually right on schedule production-wise.”
“Work hasn’t started yet on some of these projects, so there’s still a lot of jobs that are to come,” said Satran, the governor’s stimulus coordinator. “What I’m expecting to see over the next year or so is the peak of the Recovery Act impact on jobs, but it will play out over the next few years.”
BEYOND THE STIMULUS
Some local grant recipients that spent their stimulus money quickly now wonder what will happen when it’s gone.
Local work force development councils, which received money for job training and unemployment assistance programs, had mostly exhausted it by February.
State officials gave the councils a June deadline to spend all their stimulus money – a much earlier timeline than for most recovery awards.
But demand for unemployment assistance and training will still be high after that, said John Loyle, deputy director of the Pacific Mountain Workforce Development Council, which serves Thurston, Mason, Lewis, Pacific and Grays Harbor counties.
“Personally, I’m pretty concerned what will happen July 1 when the Recovery Act money is all gone,” Loyle said. “There are still more people coming through our doors, and still so many people that we need to help.”
Loyle said he hopes Congress passes a new jobs bill to provide aid to training programs. His development council will also seek support from the private sector and from the state, he said.
Other stimulus award recipients also are planning ahead so they don’t run into a shortfall down the road.
Melissa Santos: 253-552-7058
melissa.santos@thenewstribune.com
