Kentucky Submits Quarterly Stimulus Report

Governor Beshear issued this press release today:

FRANKFORT, Ky.—Gov. Steve Beshear today announced that 10,676 jobs were created or retained in Kentucky by federal grants, loans and projects funded by stimulus dollars received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) during the past quarter. To date, $797,289,164 of the expected allotment of nearly $3 billion in formula stimulus funding has been received.

“The primary goal of the recovery money is to get projects underway and to support programs that will put Kentuckians back to work and help families survive during this economic turmoil and this latest report shows it is working,” said Gov. Beshear. “We have been very aggressive in getting the stimulus money to work quickly, by putting it into needed projects and programs that will have immediate impact on improving our state.”

A complete summary of ARRA spending is available on the state’s nationally recognized transparency site, Kentucky at Work, located on the Web at http://kentuckyatwork.ky.gov/. In a recent study of every state’s stimulus reporting site, Kentucky at Work was ranked second in the nation for its transparency and accountability.

“During a time of difficult budget choices, it is more important that ever that the public have access to information about where and how recovery money is being spent,” said Gov. Beshear.

Information for all 50 states is also available on the federal government’s Recovery Act spending and reporting site at http://www.recovery.gov.

“We’re beginning to see some light on the horizon with occasional small signs of a strengthening in the national economy, but tough economic hardships continue to fall upon Kentucky,” said Gov. Beshear. “I will continue to direct the spending of stimulus dollars to the areas deemed most critical to help families put food on the table, protect programs that support our most vulnerable citizens and create investments in job creation and retention.”

Of the 10,676 jobs reported in the past quarter, 8,799 were created or retained by state-administered grants, loans and contracts. Those jobs were in eight categories:

• Education: 7,374.56


• Energy & Environment: 27.75


• Human Services: 320.19


• Housing: 128.83


• Community Services: 14.58


• Public Safety: 52.85


• Transportation: 728.03


• Workforce: 152.85


• Total jobs created or retained: 8,799.64

Fractions are a result of the number of hours worked / the total number of hours in the reporting period.

Examples of jobs saved by the strategic use of stimulus dollars include: teachers, social workers, bus drivers, teacher’s aides, engineers, construction workers, mechanics, carpenters, electricians, HVAC mechanics, plumbers, weatherization workers, substance abuse counselors, victim services personnel, police officers, career counselors and job trainers.

Gov. Beshear reminded citizens that more good news will continue to come from ARRA investments. “With the flow of stimulus dollars continuing in our economy, we’ve been able to pursue much needed infrastructure improvements, such as the more than $400 million in road projects that are being developed and built across the state,” he said.

For example, the restoration of I-264 is currently underway and has already employed more than 100 road construction personnel and local transit grants. Work on I-65, the reconstruction of US 68/KY 80 and US 150 are also creating dozens of jobs across the Commonwealth. Hundreds of additional jobs have been created through the construction of water and sewer projects and green construction jobs created by weatherization efforts.

The ARRA requires government agencies and recipients of Recovery funds to measure the plan’s progress with quarterly reports. The next reporting period ends on March 31, 2010 and will be available online in April 2010. In addition to the Kentucky at Work Web site, information on ARRA investments in Kentucky and other states is available on the federal reporting Web site at www.recovery.gov.

Taxpayers can also track detailed information on state government spending, budgets, contracts and employee salaries on Kentucky’s Open Door Web site at OpenDoor.KY.gov. Open Door was recently expanded to include expenditure records from Kentucky’s judicial branch.