With New York getting a hefty chunk of the federal stimulus package (or, as the Obama administration would like to call it, the American Recovery & Reinvestment Plan), it turns out that state officials are trying to figure out how to spend it quickly enough! According to the NY Times, "Nearly every day, officials from 20 agencies meet there to sift through hundreds of proposals, from waste-treatment plants to courthouses to emergency wireless systems."
They are racing against the clock because a lot of the money is "reserved for large-scale capital projects, money that must be spent quickly — in some cases in a few months — to help jump-start the economy." Timothy Gilchrist, Governor Paterson's senior adviser for infrastructure and transportation, was philosophical and told the Times, "It’s better than being on the other side. I’m Captain Asphalt." While doling out stimulus money could helpful to Paterson's image, some local officials are worried that while capital projects are getting greenlit, there isn't money for basic operating expenses of their towns.
In another facet of stimulus money, Mayor Bloomberg isn't very happy with how Albany is allocating the stimulus funds. The city believes it should receive $2.1 billion from the Medicaid stimulus money, but Albany is only giving $1.9 billion (they have differing opinions on how that's calculated). Mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser said, "The mayor has repeatedly said he was concerned that federal stimulus money meant for the city would get lost in Albany, and we are already seeing a clear example."
