Funding from the federal government’s economic stimulus plan is beginning to trickle in and Santa Maria residents will be some of the state’s biggest beneficiaries.
Of the $46 million pegged for much-needed repairs to six miles of the city’s levee system, $41.6 million will be paid for by money granted from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers.
U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara), who secured federal funding for the project, said the government hopes the levee project and other similar public works projects being funded across the country will help jump-start the nation out of recession.
“Our economy has been in very serious trouble, and the advice that I heard, and that the president heard, from economists—ranging from the most conservative to the most liberal—they all said the only way we’re going to fix this is to put money into jobs,” Capps said. “The idea was, much like the Great Depression, to put more money into public buildings, bridges, roads, and the construction jobs that fit the criteria.”
As part of the project, the Army Corps of Engineers plans to award two separate construction contracts in September 2009 and May 2010, according to Army Col. Thomas Magness. The project is expected to create 1,000 jobs and be completed by the start of 2011’s rainy season, Magness said.
Magness and Capps were joined by Santa Maria Mayor Larry Lavagnino and 5th District Santa Barbara County Supervisor Joe Centeno at a signing ceremony on May 27.
Lavagnino said the repair project secures the safety of all Santa Maria residents living north of Betteravia Road. The mayor praised Capps’ efforts and said the city will support the project every step of the way.
To be able to fully fund the project, thanks to the influx of federal money, surprised even city officials. But it didn’t come easily.
City spokesman Mark van de Kamp said city and county officials had traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Congress and the Army Corps of Engineers to discuss the subject. The city even hired a professional Washington lobbyist to help navigate the waters of bureaucracy and ensure that the levee project would be a top priority for decision-makers.
“We made a convincing argument, clearly, that 100,000 people in the Santa Maria Valley depend on the levee for flood protection, made all the more important by the consequence of flood insurance looming on the horizon,” van de Kamp said. “We couldn’t ask for anything better. It’s going to be hard to top that one.”
Even though the city won’t be receiving the money directly, the communities of Santa Maria and Guadalupe will reap the benefits of the project, van de Kamp said.
The city of Santa Maria has locked up about $7 million in total economic stimulus funding, according to van de Kamp. The ARRA money is distributed based on population size and the onus is on the cities to account for where the money goes.
“It’s like writing a term paper for each one; we need to justify what we do have or what we don’t have, if it’s old and outdated, and how many jobs it might create,” van de Kamp said. “We want to do it right but they’re still trying to figure out some of the guidelines that we need to follow. It’s exciting, but it’s a challenge. It’s just that people haven’t done this before.”
So far, the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments has allocated $3.8 million for the funding of transportation projects in Santa Maria. The city’s plans for the money include purchasing new vans and buses for Santa Maria Area Transit and the future construction of the Santa Maria Intermodal Transit Center.
As for the rest, roughly $1.3 million will go toward the redevelopment of foreclosed or abandoned properties under the Neighborhood Restabilization Program, and an Edward Byrne JAG Funding grant of $308,568 will be used to fund one city police officer for two years.
Plans for the remainder of the stimulus funds are still being discussed. The city has been conducting public hearings to determine what to do with their $826,000 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, the $500,000 Homelessness Prevention Fund, and $341,281 Community Development Block Grant.
And the bucks don’t stop there. In June, van de Kamp said, SBCAG will begin the process of allocating a few million more to all the cities in the county, including Santa Maria, for transportation purposes.
In addition, the city is requesting $53 million more in federal funds to widen the Santa Maria River Bridge from four to six lanes, a project estimated to cost about $68 million, according to van de Kamp.
“The way I characterize what we’re working on now is that this is an evolving work plan,” van de Kamp said. “The state of California wants to know what really big regional projects will rise to the top. I’m confident that this is one of those projects.”
That money would end up going to CalTrans or SBCAG, not the city, van de Kamp said. He said there isn’t a timeline in place for a federal response but the city should know more by the end of the year.
The city is also asking for $5 million to fund the construction of a new fire station and Development and Permit Processing Center, and $600,000 to repair fractured water mains.
For more information about federal stimulus funds in Santa Maria, visit ci.santa-maria.ca.us.
Contact Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 4-11, 2009.