Lawmakers allow stimulus spending in rural counties

CARSON CITY -- Legislators on Monday authorized spending $9.6 million in federal stimulus funds on projects to improve energy efficiency in sparsely populated rural Nevada counties.

But before approving the expenditure, both Democrats and Republicans on the Legislative Interim Finance Committee complained that the Gibbons administration has failed to provide specific information on the jobs being created through the use of stimulus funds.

"The lament nationwide is we are not getting very accurate reports on what funds are being spent on," said Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, during the committee meeting. "I am still waiting for a report from the state on what, if any, jobs were created."

Senate Majority Leader Steve Horsford, D-Las Vegas, also requested job creation information.

Federal and state sources document different figures for the number of Silver State jobs created with stimulus funds. The federal government, on its recovery.gov Web site, reported Monday that 159 jobs in Nevada have so far been created with the money. That figure is far below what some state agencies are reporting. Earlier this month, the Nevada Department of Transportation told the Review-Journal it has created 366 jobs from its $201 million in stimulus funds.

During a recent stop in Reno, Vice President Joe Biden said that on Friday, the federal government will announce the total number of jobs created with stimulus funds. A list will be posted on recovery.gov that shows how many jobs have been created nationally. It will also report what states and local government have done with stimulus funds.

In looking at the state Office of Energy's list of projects to fund with the stimulus money, Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, questioned why it intended to spend $200,000 on metering systems in state buildings to monitor energy use.

Townsend noted that Southwest Gas Corp. and NV Energy will perform energy audits for free that show energy usage and recommend ways to save. He said there must be other projects on which to spend $200,000.

Jim Brandmueller, acting director of the Office of Energy, said he should have statistics on job creation available for the committee's Nov. 10 meeting.

At that time, larger Nevada cities and counties are expected to report on what they did with energy grants from the federal government. Brandmueller also said he will consider Townsend's request that the energy metering project be scrapped.

The funds awarded Monday will be given to the state's six smallest counties and to small cities. None of them received direct energy grants from the federal government.

Brandmueller said Lincoln County intends to install a more energy-efficient furnace in its courthouse. Other counties are looking to replace lighting systems.

In response to questions, he said Clark County was given $7.66 million directly from the federal government in energy grants. Las Vegas received $5.449 million, Henderson $2.237 million, Reno, $2.142 million, and North Las Vegas, $1.907 million.

Forty percent of the allocation approved Monday will remain with the state for use in state buildings.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.