Federal stimulus funds Money for Ohio

The following stimulus funds have been awarded:

March 2

The Ohio National Guard will receive more than $8.5 million for capital improvements to its facilities across the state, to modernize and restore 22 National Guard facilities across the state.

The National Guard Bureau focused on roofing projects and projects related to energy efficiency. In the final bill, about $266 million was made available for these types of National Guard capital improvement projects nationwide. Three of the projects will install solar panels at National Guard facilities in Columbus, Toledo and at the Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center in Newton Falls.

March 5

Three area transportation systems will receive $4.65 million from the federal stimulus package.

Of that amount, the Western Reserve Transit Authority, based in Youngstown, is getting $3.51 million.

Some $2.2 million will be spent to renovate and expand the bus services’ administration office on lower Mahoning Avenue in Youngstown.

The agency will use $1.08 million to buy 12 smaller buses — 26 feet long — and five minivans to expand service, probably in Boardman, Struthers and Campbell. WRTA is also receiving $230,435 for maintenance costs needed at its facility.

The Niles-Trumbull County Transit system is to receive $524,919 in federal stimulus funding to provide transportation for students at the Trumbull County Educational Service Center. The students are transported to job and job training sites.

Those students were transported to those destinations during the 2007-08 school year using a federal Job Access and Reverse Commute grant. But that grant money ran out. TCESC will provide a 50-percent match, and the transit service will provide the transportation.

Also, $616,815 in stimulus money will go for the Shenango Valley Shuttle Service that provides bus transportation primarily between downtown Sharon, Pa., and the Shenango Valley Mall.

March 6

Officials with the Western Reserve Transit Authority defend the $2.2 million they are receiving from the federal stimulus package to renovate and expand administration offices as a job-creation project.

“A sizable number of people will be employed” for the construction project, said Don Meszaros, WRTA’s director of maintenance. “It will provide people seven to eight additional months of employment.”

James Ferraro, WRTA’s executive director, said the 24-year-old office on the lower portion of Mahoning Avenue needs improvements and to be expanded. The WRTA administration building has needed the expansion project — putting 1,500 additional square feet on the office — for a number of years, Meszaros said.

March 9

Local school districts will be getting more than $10 million as the first installment in Title 1 stimulus funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Estimates show the districts will receive more than $21 million in total Title 1 funding under the bill’s two-year time frame, but about half of that money will be arriving within the next 30 to 45 days, said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

The first round of school funding will help avert hundreds of thousands of estimated teacher layoffs in schools and school districts while driving crucial education improvements, reforms and results for students.

March 10

Work is expected to begin by next summer on $9.3 million worth of Mahoning and Trumbull county transportation projects funded with federal stimulus money.

The Eastgate Regional Council of Governments’ technical advisory committee recommended 14 projects for the two counties. The list must be approved by Eastgate’s finance/executive committee.

Another 10 projects were recommended to receive funding if some of the 14 come in lower in cost than expected or incur hurdles that slow their completion.

Each community involved must sign off on the projects by March 3, 2010. Any money not used will be returned to the federal government and reallocated likely to other states, officials said.

March 18

New Castle’s police chief says he plans to make good use of nearly $123,000 his department will get from a federal grant beefed up with stimulus money.

Chief Tom Sansone said that he would like to use the Justice Assistance Grant for hiring two part-time police officers and a part-time clerk. He also would like two new cruisers and some portable radios.

About $250,000 from the federal economic stimulus package is going to fund programs that provide food to seniors in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties.

The Area Agency on Aging 11 will receive the money to help with the Congregate Meals and Home-Delivered Meals programs in the four counties. Unlike Trumbull and Ashtabula counties, Mahoning and Columbiana don’t have tax levies to help fund programs for seniors. The senior meal programs in the four counties cost $2.75 million last year.

March 25

Columbiana Metropolitan Housing Authority will receive $931,335 to develop, finance, and modernize public housing in communities, Us. Rep. Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, D-6, announced Wednesday.

Overall, Wilson’s district will receive a total of $6,812,079.

The money can also be used to make large-scale improvements such as new roofs, new plumbing, and new electrical systems to increase energy efficiency.

March 26

A total of $20 million in federal stimulus dollars will go toward expansion of V&M Star Steel.

Gov. Ted Strickland announced today that federal officials have signed off on the funding to relocate rail lines near V&M’s current property, opening about 100 acres on the border of Youngstown and Girard for future development.

Also, Ohio gets $84 million from the federal economic stimulus package for energy efficiency and conservation projects. Based on federal formula only Youngstown ($744,800) and Warren ($196,700) are getting money out of all the communities in our five-county area.

March 27

Ohio will receive $8,036,510 in funds to support 32 community health centers across the state. The federal funds, which have been awarded to Ohio from the economic recovery package, will allow community health centers in Ohio to expand services and hours of operation.

Ohio’s 34 community health centers serve 350,000 patients in more than 140 communities. Centers provide needed health services to medically underserved populations.

Community Action Agency of Columbiana, Lisbon: $246,107

Ohio North East Health Systems Inc., Youngstown: $377,731

April 3

The federal stimulus package is giving $1.73 million to two federal courthouses, both built less than 15 years ago, in the city’s downtown to make them energy efficient while a request to replace the nearly 100-year-old Youngstown Municipal Court remains unanswered.

The Thomas D. Lambros Federa l Building and U.S. Courthouse, which opened in 1995, is receiving $1,182,000. The Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and U.S. Courthou s e, opened seven years ago at a construction cost of $21.9 million, is receiving $601,000 in funding through the stimulus package.

Meanwhile, Youngstown’s request for $8 million in federal stimulus funds to relocate its municipal court facility from the second floor of city hall to the city hall annex hasn’t gone anywhere.

April 9

Money from the federal economic stimulus package is coming to the Mahoning Valley to provide emergency food and shelter to the homeless, those who are hungry and/or people experiencing major economic troubles. Mahoning County will receive $96,838; Trumbull County, $91,918; and Columbiana County, $43,562.

The funds can be used for a variety of services, including mass shelter, mass feeding, food distribution through food pantries and food banks, one-month assistance with rent, mortgage and utility payments to prevent evictions, and transition assistance from shelters to stable living conditions.

The money will be distributed through a national board of representatives of the American Red Cross; Catholic Charities, USA; United Jewish Communities; The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA.; Salvation Army; and United Way of America.

April 15

A $4 billion stimulus boost for the nation’s public housing authorities may be too late for some complexes and should go to fixing up properties in healthier, more mixed-income neighborhoods, according to some analysts.

Every public housing authority in the nation — about 3,200 in all — will get a share of stimulus funds that they can use for new kitchens, roofs, plumbing and other upgrades to their buildings. The Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority in Warren has received $2.8 million and intends to begin rehabilitating about 80 housing units soon, said Donald Emerson, executive director.

The units — mostly in Warren duplexes — were built in the 1970s and 1980s and need modernized. Upgrades will include items such as new appliances and windows and rearranging the interior space.

The Columbiana Metropolitan Housing Authority in East Liverpool has received $931,000 for its housing units.

April 26

YOUNGSTOWN — The city is receiving $4 million in federal economic stimulus package money for two sewer projects and improvement work at its wastewater treatment facility.

Half of the money is a grant and the other half is a low-interest loan to the city. The city will use the money for a $1.23 million sewer improvement project on Woodland Avenue, and $414,000 for sewer work on Andrews Avenue.

Also, $2.35 million will go toward roof repairs and a cover for a sludge storage tank at the city’s wastewater treatment plant near Poland Avenue.

April 29

BOARDMAN — Fifteen township stormwater projects, totaling about $6 million, have been tapped to receive federal stimulus funding.

A project each in Sebring, Warren and Lowellville and five each in Youngstown and Columbiana County round out the list of Mahoning Valley water projects to receive the money through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Included on the list are the six flood-control projects that had been set to go but were put on hold by trustees in 2007 because the township didn’t have the money to complete them.

Those six projects were developed after flooding plagued parts of the township in 2003 and 2004 when heavy rain deluged parts of the Valley.

Youngstown’s projects include combined sewer separation and a roof replacement at the wastewater treatment plant. In Sebring, the federal dollars are for construction of wastewater treatment plant improvements and in Lowellville, it’s to abate wastewater treatment plant flooding.

Warren’s project, which includes $500,000 in stimulus funding and no loan, is for a wastewater pollution control hydroelectric project.

May 6

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, announced that counties within the Congressional District would receive $22,197,175 in stimulus money as part of a grant to make houses more energy efficient.

The funds are part of $266 million in revenue that will be administered by Ohio and granted by the U.S. Department of Energy. Monies will be used to make necessary improvements to low income homes that will improve energy efficiency and lower energy costs.

The Mahoning Youngstown Community Action Partnership will be receiving $7,421,544 expected to help weatherize 885 homes.

The Trumbull County Action Program will receive $3,684,570 for expected work on 439 houses.

The number of homes is a projection provided by the Ohio Department of Development.