Local stimulus-fueled job numbers rolling in
| Tuesday, Oct 20 2009 06:34 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Oct 20 2009 06:34 PM
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FEDERAL STIMULUS FUNDING: FIRST LOOK
KERN COUNTY SCHOOLS
Data from Kern County public school districts covering pre-kindergartners through 12th graders as reported to the California Department of Education.
Amount awarded: About $134 million
Amount expended: About $22 million
Total jobs added or retained (full-time equivalents): 860
Bakersfield-area districts:
Kern High School District
Fiscal stabilization money: $18.4 million awarded, $1.6 million expended. 275 jobs created or retained.
Special ed services for people age 5 to 11: $7.1 million awarded, none expended. No jobs created or retained.
Boost achievement of low-income students: $6.2 million awarded ($2.8 million received), $2.8 million expended. 75 jobs created or retained.
Help food authorities purchase equipment: $173,577 awarded, $173,577 expended. No jobs created or retained.
Fruitvale School District
Fiscal stabilization money: $1 million awarded, $57,044 expended. 3.8 jobs created or retained.
Boost achievement of low-income students: $90,711 awarded, $30,365 expended. 2.58 jobs created or retained.
Bakersfield City School District
Fiscal stabilization money: $10.3 million awarded, $4 million expended. No jobs created or retained.
Special education preschool grants: $198,007 awarded ($39,216 received), $0 expended. No jobs created or retained.
Special ed for preschoolers with disabilities: $363,786 awarded ($72,099 received), $0 expended. No jobs created or retained.
Special ed for people age 5 to 21: $5.5 million awarded ($1.1 million received), $0 expended. No jobs created or retained.
Boost achievement of low-income students: $10.1 million awarded ($4.55 million received), $242,500 expended. No jobs created or retained.
Services for homeless children: $44,350 awarded, $0 expended. No jobs created or retained.
Rosedale Union School District
Fiscal stabilization money: $1.6 million awarded, $0 expended, 21 jobs created or retained.
Boost achievement of low-income students: $145,753 awarded, $3,505 expended. 2 jobs created or retained.
Panama-Buena Vista Union School District
Fiscal stabilization money: $5.4 million awarded, $5.4 million expended. 111.09 jobs created or retained.
Boost achievement of low-income students: $1.1 million awarded ($502,519 received), $203,875 expended. 2.7 jobs created or retained.
CITY OF BAKERSFIELD
$23.6 million: incoming awards
145 full-time, 5 part-time jobs: created or soon-to-be-filled positions
Details:
Roads
$12.1 million: being spent on eight repaving/rehabilitation projects
5: contracts awarded; all broke ground in September
3: remaining projects that go to bid in early 2010
76 jobs created so far
Law enforcement
$6.1 million: from three awards
17: sworn officers; positions have been created but not filled
2: civilian positions previously lost in layoffs will be created; one crime analyst, one community relations specialist
1 full-time and 5 part-time civilian jobs retained helping at-risk youth; part-times jobs total 1.4 full-time positions
20 full-time, 5 part-time positions
Energy efficiency
$3 million: will fund part of $7 million solar energy facility at the expanding wastewater treatment plant in southwest Bakersfield (another $2.7 million is being provided by PG&E)
33 jobs will be funded by the federal money; the project will go to bid by early 2010
Low-income neighborhoods and homeless assistance
$897,000: five street reconstruction jobs in east Bakersfield; construction to start this month
$1.4 million: rental and other assistance to reduce homelessness; contracts awarded to Bethany Services and the Bakersfield Homeless Center on Sept. 23; no job data yet filed
16: construction and clerical jobs for street reconstruction projects
COUNTY OF KERN
$62,582,268: incoming awards
107 full-time jobs, two part-time jobs, 1,264 full-time summer jobs for youth
Does not account for incomplete information on jobs created by the transportation and energy expenditures.
Details:
Airport
$2.7 million to fund the rehabilitation of taxiway A at Meadows Field
Six jobs created or retained
Community and Economic Development
Block grants
$1.4 million to complete a storm drain and street improvement project in Mojave. Work is expected to begin in January.
50 construction jobs created for the three-month-long project
Homelessness prevention
$2.1 million to help the homeless find and secure rental housing.
No jobs created or retained
Energy
$4 million to fund energy efficiency projects -- from solar panels to power-saving water heaters -- in eight county buildings
The money has not been spent so job information is unclear.
Health and Human Services
$26.2 million in Medicaid reimbursements to Kern County health care providers over three fiscal years ending in mid-2011.
No jobs created or retained
Job training
$13.6 million to provide training, job placement and work experience for adults; career planning and retraining for laid-off workers; job opportunities for youth; layoff prevention assistance for businesses; and developing jobs in the green energy sector.
Approximately 44 jobs created; another 1,264 full-time equivalent summer jobs for 1,700 youth also created
Public safety
$875,465 to retain two deputy district attorneys in gang prosecution, two deputy public defenders and a deputy probation officer. It will also purchase a drug dog, 20 encrypted radios and 56 Tasers for the Kern County Sheriff's Department.
Five jobs created or retained
Senior nutrition
$182,460 to pay for food, vehicle repair, fuel and staff to maintain the county's Meals-on-Wheels program.
Saved two jobs on the budget chopping block and allowed Aging and Adult Services to hire two back-up drivers.
Transportation
$11.6 million to fund five road reconstruction and overlay projects in rural Kern County and a sidewalk improvement project in La Loma.
County roads officials could not quantify the number of jobs that will be created or retained.
Sources: California Department of Education, City of Bakersfield, County of Kern
Images:
Casey Christie / The Californian A large sign in the middle of Mt. Vernon Avenue stating that the road work ahead is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Casey Christie / The Californian Road workers with WestValley Construction Javier Ramirez, left, Richard Calvillo, center, and Alex Gonzalez, right, work on Mt. Vernon Avenue near Renegade Avenue, Tuesday morning.
Casey Christie / The Californian Workers with WestValley Construction moving dirt on Mt. Vernon Avenue include Javier Ramirez, left, Alex Gonzalez, and Richard Calvillo. This was near Renegade Avenue.
An early look at reports from government agencies show that more than 1,000 local jobs were created or saved by the infusion of money from the $787 billion federal stimulus bill.
That tally is preliminary and doesn't include jobs created in the military or other public and private sectors in Kern, so the total number of new or saved jobs in the county could go much higher.
The numbers come from reports filed for the quarter that ended Sept. 30.
In those reports, direct recipients of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money disclosed how much they've been pledged, how much they've spent and the number of jobs saved or retained. Each job is counted as the equivalent of a full-time, full-year position.
Federal and state authorities are reviewing the data, which may be corrected. The feds plan to make the cleaned-up information public at the end of the month.
But states and local governments are providing preliminary information now.
Stimulus funds managed by state government entities in California have saved or created more than 100,000 jobs, according to the California Recovery Task Force. They've been awarded about $12.7 billion and spent $5.27 billion, the task force said.
The state did not have to file reports on billions of federal Medicaid, unemployment insurance and other kids of money brought to California so far.
It's estimated the state will manage about half of all the stimulus money coming to California.
More locally:
* The city of Bakersfield reported its stimulus money funded 145 full-time and five part-time jobs -- not all filled yet -- in the July-September quarter.
The reports don't include all jobs to eventually come from the city's $23.6 million share of recovery act funds. The bulk of positions won't be with the city, but doled out to private companies through construction and service contracts.
The biggest chunk is being spent on road work.
"We wouldn't have gotten to these projects for years," said Public Works Director Raul Rojas. "This has been a huge lift."
* The county of Kern has been awarded $62.6 million for everything from road work and solar panel arrays to senior nutrition and housing for the homeless.
So far the county has estimated the money will create 107 full-time jobs, two part-time jobs and the equivalent of 1,264 full-time summer jobs for youth.
Kern County Roads Commissioner Craig Pope said stimulus money, backed up by a county roads bond, is powering enough work to keep 12 people in his office employed for the next three years.
He can't quantify how many of those jobs are tied only to recovery act money.
But he said the construction industry in Kern -- hired onto government jobs -- will have a shot at survival it wouldn't have had without the various pools of road cash.
"I look around and there's nobody else working out there," he said. "We're the only ones who are busy."
The money keeps the skilled workforce here in Kern County and, when the economy recovers, those workers will be able to shift into private projects, he said.
* K-12 public school districts throughout Kern County have reported to the California Department of Education that they've been awarded about $134 million and spent about $22 million.
They say the equivalent of 860 full-time jobs have been created or retained.
You'll see differences in how and whether local school districts have spent their dollars because of uncertainty about federal spending guidelines, said Mark Fulmer, assistant superintendent of district administration and finance at the Kern County Superintendent of Schools office.
Some districts are hanging onto cash because they may need it to backfill for future state education cuts, he said.
But generally speaking, Fulmer said, stimulus money has met critical needs in California schools as it's pretty much matched what the state has taken away.
"These weren't dollars sparking new projects," he said. "They're being used to maintain essential services for students."
Job creation is one of the key barometers by which the success or failure of the stimulus bill likely will be measured. Until this point, analysts have used economic formulas to gauge the number of jobs that will be generated by the spending.
While the Obama administration has touted the stimulus-generated jobs, Republicans point out the continuously high unemployment rate and say their plan would have spurred more jobs at a lesser cost.
-- Staff writers Gretchen Wenner and James Burger contributed to this story.
