Published: May 23, 2009 07:46 pm      

Stimulus dollars benefit county

Area to see at least $29 million in federal programs

The federal economic stimulus package, formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is a $787 billion spending plan of tax cuts, grants, infrastructure and investment projects designed to jump-start the economy and create jobs.

Navarro County has already been approved for $29 million of that money, and grant applications are out there seeking at least another $5 million.

The $29 million already on its way is mostly coming through the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), and includes $10.2 million to resurface FM 639 and FM 1126, and another $15.5 million for two new rest stops on Interstate 45 near Richland.

In mid-March, the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Navarro County was approved for $3.3 million to repair three earthen dams on Chambers and Richland creeks.

Most of the highway projects and the dams are supposed to start construction this summer and fall. Navarro will get its money earlier than most other counties because it’s designated an “economically distressed area” which is one of the considerations for where and when stimulus funds will be spent, according to Chris Lippincott, spokesman for TxDOT.

The three earthen dams, approved for $3.3 million in repairs, are located in three different segments of the county. The first, on Chambers Creek, is just north of Corsicana, off Interstate 45, southeast of Rice. The second, on Richland Creek in western Navarro, is just east of CR 3418, south of Mertens; while the third is in the southern part of the county, northwest of Wortham, and just off CR 2280.

The sites were chosen from a list of endangered small dams around the state, explained Lori Valadez, spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service. The projects on the list are small dams built to prevent soil erosion and flooding, but which now have slope slide, which is when the soil starts to slip down one side.

The next largest grant amounts are going to be in the area of education, if approved, and the largest of those will go to Corsicana Independent School District, as the largest school district in the county.

The district expects to receive an estimated $2.3 million in Title 1 and special education funds alone. The district could receive more money in the fall for technology and Title 3 programs, according to Marti Shaner, executive director of curriculum for CISD.

The Title 1 money, designed to support programs geared towards kids from financially poor homes, adds up to $1.1 million, Shaner said.

“We’re pretty excited about that,” she said.

Special education programs, for both pre-school and older, will be closer to $1.2 million.

The money isn’t in CISD’s pocket — yet. Like all federal money, it comes with strings, sometimes knotty ones.

“It’s contingent upon us doing our needs assessment and them approving what our needs assessment shows, and what we’re going to spend our money on,” Shaner pointed out.

The other school districts in the county should also receive some stimulus money, although with the end of the school year, most of the smaller districts are waiting until school is released to actively work on those applications. Early estimates are that the other six smaller districts will receive another $1 million, divided amongst them, with Kerens and Dawson, the two most economically distressed districts, receiving slightly more than the others. Those early estimates came from Strategic Partnerships Inc., a financial consultant company in Austin and the Texas School Board Association.

The City of Corsicana, primarily through the Corsicana Police Department, is asking for another $1 million.

The first request, which went to the Corsicana City Council on March 3, calls for the city to receive a police officer just for watching out for gang and drug activity within Corsicana ISD. The joint application, from CPD and CISD, calls for an officer to be assigned to the schools for five years. The first four years would be paid for by the federal government through a Life Support Project grant, with the fifth year being paid for by the city. It would be worth roughly $240,000.

Through other avenues, the Corsicana Police Department has also asked for three additional patrol officers, who would also be paid for by the federal government for up to three years, with the fourth year being paid for by the city. If the city receives that grant, it would be worth about $559,000, according to Police Chief Randy Bratton. Unfortunately, it’s a competitive grant process, which means Corsicana is going head to head with all the other police departments in the country.

“Nationally, the demand, of course, has greatly out-requested the supply of funds,” Bratton said Friday. “They appropriated $1 billion, and they had requests for $8.3 billion. That tells you how competitive these are. More than 39,000 officer positions were requested across the country, and I asked for three.”

The Navarro County Sheriff’s Office had originally intended to apply for some more deputies through the same program, but dropped the application after finding out that it would require community policing.

The stimulus grant most likely to be approved for local law enforcement officials are some requests for technology grants. The sheriff’s office was tentatively approved for $14,957 for some laptop computers, while the Corsicana Police Department is looking at $38,394 for an evidence tracking system and some narcotics equipment, such as night vision goggles.

“The $38,000 is the one we have the best chance for,” Bratton said. “They’ve already come up with an allocation for us, it’s just if they like our application and if we’ve followed all the technicalities, and there’s a ton of technicalities.”

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