A key component of the Obama administration’s efforts to pull the country out of its deep recession is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), commonly known as the “stimulus” package.

Like most every other government entity in the country, the Town of Fountain Hills is interested in getting a share of this roughly $1 trillion to help compensate for its own economic woes.

So far the town has been only marginally successful in acquiring stimulus money, however, more time may yield some additional funding.

Mayor Jay Schlum is hoping persistence will pay off over the long run, but he would like to see better results.

“Generally, I am disappointed that the stimulus is not reaching Fountain Hills to the degree it seems to be reaching large cities,” Schlum said. “(T)he big cities appear better positioned and have lobbyists working daily on the stimulus.”

The Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) was very early in receiving an allocation of ARRA funds, and just as quickly distributed it to its member communities.

By the end of March MAG had announced the Town of Fountain Hills would receive about $1.1 million, and the Town Council decided that money would be used for a Shea Boulevard expansion project.

It was decided that project was about the only work the town had planned that could meet the deadlines and other criteria that came with the funding.

The Shea Boulevard work will widen the north side of Shea between Fountain Hills and Palisades boulevards. The additional width will include a traffic lane to accommodate slower traffic climbing the hill. There will also be a bicycle lane constructed and a sidewalk.

The construction plans for the Shea widening are currently more than 90 percent complete. According to Town Public Works Director Tom Ward, the plans should be completed so the project is ready to go out to bid by late this calendar year. The bidding and construction will be managed by the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The $1.1 million does not cover the entire cost of the project. An additional grant from MAG is being used, and some contribution will need to come from town capital improvement money.

“We have already received (the) $1.1 million, but we are continuing our pursuit of funds,” Schlum said. “For instance, we will be applying for funds to help us build a fire house that is currently being designed.

“Without these funds, it will be very difficult and nearly impossible for us to be able to build this fire house.”

The new fire station is actually a relocation project that the fire department has been advocating for several years. A new facility would be built on Shea Boulevard just east of Palisades, and operations would be transferred from the existing station on Saguaro Boulevard south of Shea.

The ARRA has made about $200 million available to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to award grants to communities for “non-federal” fire stations. The fire department has opted to pursue this grant funding for the $1.5 million fire station project.

The FEMA grant application must be completed by July 10, and the funds are expected to be awarded by the end of the year.

Fire Chief Scott LaGreca told the council this is going to be a very competitive grant process, with several billion dollars in applications expected for the $200 million.

In an effort to be more competitive, the council has agreed to make a 10 percent match on the grant for the project and have the station LEEDS or environmentally certified as “green.”

While the town is firmly committed to these two efforts to acquire ARRA money, there are other avenues staff is also pursuing.

“Each funding opportunity has its own guidelines and some of those have not been released yet,” town spokeswoman Katie Decker said.

Decker added the town will be looking into additional opportunities related to environmental initiatives including possible partnership with the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.

“Staff has met with various town departments to discuss possible energy efficiency projects for the town,” Decker said.

These projects would be funded through the Energy Efficiency Community Block Grant program, which is part of ARRA.

“These funds must be distributed to municipalities with a population of less than 35,000,” Decker said.

She said Fountain Hills will apply for funding to upgrade lighting, integrate solar water heating, convert parking lot lighting to LED and place solar equipment on various town infrastructures.

Citizen help

Staff has not worked through the plethora of stimulus information alone. There are five individual citizens who volunteered to help out, using their personal expertise in various areas.

“I feel our volunteers and staff are doing a great job of uncovering, tracking and ultimately preparing all of our applications,” Schlum said.

“Applying for stimulus money is a whole new idea, but they have really dived in.”

Ultimately it is unclear how much Fountain Hills will benefit from the ARRA funding, but Schlum has some reservations about how much will get to Fountain Hills.

“Now that the funds are beginning to slowly trickle out of federal agencies it appears that communities like ours will largely not qualify,” Schlum said.

“We often appear to have too large or too small a population. We also find that many federal agencies are stipulating thresholds that we do not meet or dollars are available to fund programs we do not operate.”

Review: 
Economic series, Part One: Surviving financial fallout
Economic series, Part Two: Sanitary District
Economic series, Part Three: School District
Economic series, Part Four: Construction industry
Economic series, Part Five: Town surviving
Economic series, Part Six: Laid off teachers
Economic series, Part Eight: Food Bank
Economic series, Part Nine: Retailers
Economic series, Part Ten: Mayor impacted
Economic series, Part Eleven: Real Estate