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StumbleBuilders: Stimulus fell short
Construction continues on the Bonneville Transit Center in downtown Las Vegas this month. The federal stimulus money aided in funding the transportation project.
Fri, Jul 30, 2010 (3 a.m.)
Construction workers at the Bonneville Transit Center in downtown Las Vegas were paid with federal stimulus money. The Regional Transportation Commission received the money.
The $787 billion federal stimulus is winding down and although the state and local governments received money to supplement tight budgets and improve infrastructure, Southern Nevada contractors and other companies said it didn’t have the benefit they desired.
“From a construction-industry point of view, it was negligible,” said Steve Holloway, Associated General Contractors executive vice president. “Most of the money went for underwriting government jobs, and that had no direct or indirect bearing on our industry.”
Although stimulus money was allocated for transportation projects, Holloway said the view is that much of the money went for maintenance and wasn’t enough to make a “real impact” on the industry.
Engineering and architecture firms, which have been struggling in the recession because of the lack of construction projects, haven’t benefited a lot from the stimulus either, said Mark Hedge, principal with Lochsa Engineering, which designed a bus terminal for the Regional Transportation Commission.
The biggest chunk of the federal stimulus, $288 billion, went toward tax cuts. Of that, $237 billion was for individuals.
About $155 billion went to health care, with half that going to Medicaid for states and a small portion for health-related construction projects. Another $100 billion went to education, with more than half going to school districts to avert layoffs.
Another $82 billion went to unemployment benefits and to help low-income workers and retirees.
About $105 billion went to infrastructure investment, including $48 billion to transportation and billions for government buildings, housing and energy programs — the chunk that private companies were hoping to benefit from.
The stimulus package designated $2.2 billion for Nevada government, some of which was passed on to local governments. All but $500 million has been received so far, said Charles Harvey, who is overseeing the state’s stimulus program.
By the state’s calculation, about 8,100 jobs have been created or retained with the stimulus money. More than half of the money went to help pay unemployment benefits and cover Medicaid. About $213 million was designed for transportation projects and in the second quarter nearly 300 jobs were created because of it, Harvey said.
Based on the latest estimates from the Council of Economic Advisers, 29,000 jobs were created in Nevada, directly and indirectly, Harvey said. Many expected a greater effect, and the jobs won’t be sustainable unless the economy improves, but the money has made a difference, he said.
“I think it has definitely helped,” Harvey said. “I look at it like we impacted lives instead of numbers, and we are not (even showing) the indirectly induced jobs created as a result.’’
Those could be cement companies when highway projects are completed or restaurants serving more workers going out to eat, Harvey said.
The stimulus has helped engineering firms such as Converse Consultants. Kurt Goebel, its senior vice president, said the construction of solar power plants on federal land has created environmental assessment work.
Converse has also benefited from $400,000 in grant funds for brownfield environmental assessments in Northern California, Goebel said.
“I think it has helped the industry, but I think it is marginal help.”
The biggest cheerleaders of the stimulus package are state and local governments.
Kenny Young, North Las Vegas assistant city manager, gives the stimulus package a grade of B-minus, but only because of the regulations and bureaucratic hurdles that had to be overcome last year, he said. Otherwise, it got an A, even though more money was needed, he said.
“We should have gotten a lot more (in Southern Nevada) because we are more severely impacted than other parts of the country,” Young said.
North Las Vegas received about $19 million, including funds administered through the state, Young said.
The biggest chunk — $8.6 million — allowed the city to purchase foreclosed homes from banks as a way to stabilize neighborhoods. They will be repaired and set aside for purchase by people with low to moderate incomes or for rental housing, Young said.
The city also received more than $9 million for road resurfacing, and also received money for waterline improvements and energy conservation.
“It has helped us deliver a couple of projects we would otherwise not have been able to provide,” Young said. “We were able to provide employment for people and projects for companies to work on. We were able to do projects that otherwise would have been put off for years.”
That was echoed by Tracy Bower, RTC spokeswoman who said projects would not have been built without the stimulus money. The commission received $39.1 million for roadway projects in the valley and another $33.6 million for transit projects.
“It made a big impact for the RTC,” Bower said. “It help fund projects that otherwise wouldn’t have been built.”
The $14 million Bonneville Transit Center in downtown Las Vegas received $5.6 million in stimulus money, and the $11 million Centennial Hills Transit Center received more than $6 million.
Another $22 million in federal funds is being used for a new rapid transit line linking Henderson and Las Vegas via Boulder Highway.
Of the $33.5 million that has been allocated for Las Vegas so far, $21.5 million is earmarked for infrastructure projects. Other money is geared for law enforcement and court programs and other projects.
“The (stimulus) funds received by Las Vegas have allowed the city to perform important road construction that will help ease traffic, and to fund projects that will reduce carbon footprints and help make our community more sustainable,” city spokeswoman Diana Paul said.
Clark County said it has spent about $8 million of the $47 million it has been awarded by the federal government so far, creating more than 600 jobs. The biggest chunk of the money, $24 million, is for highway improvements.
Discussion: 13 comments so far…
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The devils in the details and this report shows that. The overall $$$ is staggering but when you look at how it was being spent it didn't have a lasting effect. I expect round 2 of some other stimulus to passed by Congress which will further the debt crisis. I should look into some Chinese as a second language class....
we don't need more debts so our children and grand children had to payback
really? debt? if you're worried about debt, raise taxes to cover the shortfall. china? it's a government run behemoth. all of their stimulus is government run with little input from those being governed. the stimulus fell short because it wasn't big enough. during the depression the government paid people to dig holes and fill them back in to get people to work and the economy running. we would never do that because we are worried about a "debt" crisis. the crisis is in ideas, of will of imagination not of "debt". talk about the "debt" the next time you decide we need a tax cut.
mojo,
if you are not worried about it, then you should take out tons of debt and buy stuff so you can help stimulate the economy. More power to you. And Good Luck
You know, the saddest part of the stimulus money for Nevada is that it's a patch on an otherwise lackluster Economy. The money created unsustainable job creation. People are still out of work in a big way. New job creating starts with the worker wanting to reinvent themselves. To learn or try a new profession. The only remaing jobs available are menial low paying jobs. The stimulus should have been concentrated on retraining programs. The jobs lost these last 4 years will never return. They are outside of the country. Unions are to blame for this. How do you compete with China,Bangladesh or Equador, for cheap labor? Unions high pay to their members and their generous pension and Medical plans are to blame for this crisis. With these high costs Companies had to move house out of the country.
unions are to blame. wow. so we, as Americans, want to be the lowest paid workers on the earth? it's the union's fault that housing came crashing down. it's the union's fault that banking went bust. it's the union's fault that oil, the real culprit, was at $150 a barrel. again, out of ideas. what's really sad is that you want to cater to the lowest common denominator. actually, taxes in almost ever other industrialized country are higher than in America. worker wages are higher in Canada and Germany, two countries that are no longer in a recession, and Canada felt very little of the capital crisis. the real issue with china is currency rate, not worker productivity. we Americans are the most productive on the planet, yes, even unionized labor. it's not our work or our price, it's simply big business doing what it does best, looking out for itself. if you really want to blame someone, blame yourselves for being such fox new sheep. and really, before i go, ask yourselves, what does a working class person deserve? health benefits? a nice retirement after giving the best years of your life to your employer? decent pay so that you and your family have a little set aside for the bad times? really, don't working class people deserve anything or are we to simply pray at the alter of fox business news? oh, and i forgot, i ran a business, paid taxes and paid wages. and i'd pay higher taxes if it meant the recession in vegas was over and people got back to work at a wage they could support a family with.
@mojodrew
To sum it all up ,this is what happens when we shifted towards a "global economy". We can't compete with wages in China and elsewhere around the Globe. Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Obama embraced this concept of global trade. This is the end product. The playing field has changed and the unions are directly affected by this shift.
100 billion and only 29000 jobs created. What a waste of money.... They said it helped, helped who????? Someone lined their pockets with taxpayers money.... Still 14.7% unemployed in Nevada...
Waste of Money spent on things that will require even more money to maintain..
NOTHING listed above will put money back into the coffers to maintain those so called jobs created.
In other words... the Return on Investment is going to be NEGATIVE. Kind of like paying $500,000 for homes that can only rent out for $1,400 a month.
"The $14 million Bonneville Transit Center in downtown Las Vegas received $5.6 million in stimulus money, and the $11 million Centennial Hills Transit Center received more than $6 million.
Another $22 million in federal funds is being used for a new rapid transit line linking Henderson and Las Vegas via Boulder Highway."
And what will be the yearly cost to the Taxpayer to maintain these each and every year here on out?
The Pigs Just Got Fatter and they'll need even more slop next year.
Grade = F
Next year is going to hurt... Our financially illiterate Representatives are already trying to figure out how to raise taxes to pay for their inept leadership.
This is dismal news for all of our construction workers.
funny, most people on the right didn't want stimulus, now all they can say is it didn't do enough, never happy are ya? it did save a bunch of teacher jobs..look it up. as a matter of fact, many governors are asking for more money to save more teacher jobs. and if you're working on those stimulus jobs, are you really concerned about the after cost? and why shouldn't we pay for public transportation with public money? question is, what do you want to DO? DO you want anything other than less of everything? what are you willing to pay for? again, back in the day, they built hoover dam, the reason vegas took off. today, you would complain if they tried to build anything like that with "public" money. you'd complain about the money to upkeep it. again, out of ideas, full of complaints. build yucca, build solar power plants, build green, build a real monorail system, with public money, build a arena, put people to work.
It all comes down to the mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. Large government is not the answer. Liberal policies are not the answer. The answer is to cut spending and eliminate wasteful government programs. Government is inefficient (and incompetent) by nature. There is no incentive for government to employ the most bright and capable people. Instead it is concerned more about affirmative action. This results in a system of absolutely no checks and balances which then leads to large amounts of waste and fraud. Conventional wisdom tells us, now more than ever, that government can in no way be trusted. LARGER GOVERNMENT = LESS FREEDOM. Remember this come November 2, 2010.
so what is government for, antiliberal? your can drink tap water and it's always on, the food is mostly safe to eat, your mail is always delivered, the schools stay open, the dmv is open, libraries are open and the military does it's job without hesitation. it would be nice if we asked you what government functions you enjoy and cut the rest but we'd like to live in a civilized society not anarchy. again, funny, repubs get into government because they think it's a mess and lo and behold, they make it a mess. maybe we should elect people who think government is essential to a functioning republic and then hold their feet to the fire to make it better. again, repubs, WHAT ARE YOU FOR? do you stand for anything other than less of everything? the world is going forward, governments and all, it would be fun if you could join us. and what is government waste? are you the arbiter of waste and abuse? i pay taxes too, even for the wars i didn't agree with and to support the governor i didn't vote for. you can't pick and choose to be a part of the country only when your sides in power. your side had it's day and 14.7% unemployment was the result.