Hold on road money defended

Flathead County and the city of Columbia Falls should know by mid-April whether they will get road infrastructure money that was anticipated but now has been put on hold as the state analyzes a deteriorating revenue situation.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer put a hold on $3.5 million in infrastructure grants earmarked via state House Bill 645, which authorized the use of federal stimulus funds in Montana.

Of the $20 million that came to Montana, $16.5 million is already “out the door,” the governor said in a telephone interview on Thursday.

The reason Flathead County and Columbia Falls are in a bind now, Schweitzer said, is that neither has a signed state contract yet for the road work that already has been completed.

About 130 local government entities that vied for stimulus money, including the cities of Kalispell and Whitefish, got their contracts signed earlier and already have received 90 percent of their funding, Schweitzer said. The remaining 10 percent is on hold.

“I do know that over the course of the next few weeks we’ll get data points to see where we’re at” with the state budget, Schweitzer said. “I think we’re going to be fine.

“As we had deteriorating revenue, I said no more money” is going out, the governor continued. “The answer isn’t no; the answer is it’s on hold ... I will not apologize for challenging every part of government and everything we do in state government.”

Schweitzer said he has the ultimate responsibility in how state money is spent, and that the lion’s share goes to “educate, medicate and incarcerate.”

Flathead County eyed the stimulus money nearly a year ago, but waited until Jan. 4 to submit a contract request for $423,596 for paving work done last fall on Mennonite Church Road.

County Administrative Officer Mike Pence said the county wanted to wait until it finished the project so that only one draw of stimulus money would need to be made. Some ditch work still is being completed.

Pence said he got an e-mail from the Department of Commerce Community Development Division on Jan. 14, indicating the contract had been drafted and routed to the legal department.

“Everything seemed to be on track,” Pence said.

The Mennonite Church Road project, though controversial because it involved a Rural Special Improvement District that financially taps property owners along the road, was a shovel-ready project, the kind intended for stimulus funding.

“This was a fast-track project,” Pence said. “It’s bizarre” they’ve put in on hold.

Pence said a teleconference with officials from the Montana Association of Counties alerted Flathead County its money was on hold. If the county doesn’t get reimbursed for the Mennonite Church Road project, it will heavily impact summer road maintenance projects the county had planned, Pence said.

Columbia Falls likewise doesn’t have a signed contract for $91,060 in improvements to Third Avenue East from U.S. 2 to River’s Edge Park.

Columbia Falls Finance Director Susan Nicosia said the money was appropriated through legislation and that local government entities have until Sept. 30 this year to complete their projects.

The city submitted a contract and has a Jan. 21 letter from the state indicating the state would sign the contract and Columbia Falls would get 90 percent of its requested funding.

Nicosia said the city acted in good faith that the money would be available. City officials mailed a letter to the governor last week reiterating that the city met the funding guidelines.

Pence said the county commissioners also intend to send a letter to the governor, asking that the funding be released.

Schweitzer said he intends to make his way around the state to look at infrastructure projects, including those in Flathead County, that have been completed with actual and anticipated stimulus money.

“I’ll take a look at how the money is being spent,” he said.

And if county officials want an extra measure of assurance, they should talk to their local legislators, Schweitzer said.

“Let’s be frank here. Almost all of the House members from Flathead County said, ‘Don’t take the [stimulus] money,’” Schweitzer said. A majority of the Flathead delegation was against taking federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding and voted no on House Bill 645.

“The local jurisdictions need to talk to their local legislators who voted against it,” Schweitzer noted. “They [the legislators] should tell me what they’d like me to do.”

 Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com