June 18, 2009

******FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE******

STIMULUS FUNDING SUMMARY OUTLINES WYOMING ALLOCATIONS

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - The State of Wyoming released a document today that offers an overall look at the funding the state has received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and its implications.

The new Wyoming ARRA Funding Summary tracks stimulus money that has flowed into the state through existing federal and state programs and grants, and also attempts to summarize grant and loan funding that may subsequently be allocated to private entities in Wyoming.

“We have worked hard to develop this summary document which provides the best snapshot thus far of the total impact of stimulus funds on the State of Wyoming,” said Lynne Boomgaarden, Director of the Office of State Lands and Investments who heads up the state’s Recovery and Reinvestment Team. Boomgaarden said despite the team’s best effort to carefully scrutinize the money flowing from Washington, D.C. to Wyoming, there may still be funding streams that are not reflected in the summary.

Boomgaarden will offer a presentation on the impacts of stimulus funding to the Joint Appropriations Interim Committee today at 2:30 p.m. in Capitol Room 204.

Developed by Deputy Director Joyce Hefenieder of the Department of Administration and Information, the Wyoming ARRA Funding Summary shows that the largest single amount of funding - $157 million - has flowed to the Wyoming Department of Transportation. The department announced last month that it leads the nation in the speed with which it has allocated stimulus funding to road and bridge improvement projects in communities across Wyoming. A wide range of other agencies have also received and allocated stimulus funding, including the Wyoming Departments of Education, Health, Workforce Services, Environmental Quality and Agriculture, and the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office.
 
Gov. Dave Freudenthal said the summary is another step in the state’s effort to keep the public informed on how much stimulus funding is coming to Wyoming and how it is being spent.

“Lynne’s team continues to do good work and to keep the public informed about the many projects and programs that have benefitted from this funding,” the Governor said. “There are many, many people in Wyoming who are working this summer who might not have been if stimulus money wasn’t flowing into our state.”

Hefenieder said it remains challenging to develop a reliable total of all stimulus funding that will be allocated in Wyoming.

“Some of these funding streams are grants for which the state has applied,” she said. “It’s impossible to know how much of this funding will be given to the state. There are also funding streams that flow through state agencies but go directly to beneficiaries, such as unemployment and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding, or food stamps. The total that the state will receive in these instances depends on how many people qualify and this is also difficult to determine at this point.”

The new summary document is available online at Wyoming's recovery web site.

In addition to the summary, the web site also includes specific information about programs that received stimulus funding and links to other valuable resources, articles, and Web sites, including the main federal recovery site, www.recovery.gov.

Specific questions about the document should be directed to: Joyce Hefenieder, 307-777-3335.

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