LAKEPORT ? A dialogue with Congressman Mike Thompson highlighted Lake County”s ability to access to federal stimulus funds during a round-table meeting hosted by the Lake County Board of Supervisors Thursday morning at the Lake County Museum in Lakeport.
Thompson began with an update about legislative activities in Washington D.C. and the state of the economy in his district, which includes seven Northern California counties.
“We”ve lost somewhere around 4.5 million jobs since the recession started. The unemployment numbers in California are 10.5 percent. Just about every county in that district is either over that number or pushing that number,” Thompson said.
Thompson said the stimulus package was passed to slow job loss and to preserve and provide approximately 3.5 million jobs through job creation and preservation of existing jobs. He said jobs that stood to be saved included teachers, law enforcement officers, firefighters and health care providers, among other public service positions.
“We have declining revenues in all areas, our tourism industry is down, the construction industry has fallen flat. That”s impacted sales tax, property tax revenue, property values ? so we have a challenging year ahead of us. For that reason we particularly appreciate the ability to access some of the federal stimulus money,” Lake County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said.
Cox said because Lake County is a small and rural area it would not receive a formula allocation of the stimulus money like urban areas would. He said he appointed a strike team of county staff members to pursue the grant money.
“It is really a challenge to find out what is available and to go after it. And then we have to compete for those grants,” Cox said.
Thompson said a handbook for obtaining the grants would be available soon. He said some of the stimulus money coming to the county would come through Army Corps of Engineers projects in the county, including the Middle Creek Flood Damage Control and Ecosystem Restoration Project.
Supervisors Rob Brown and Anthony Farrington expressed disappointment that water and sewer projects in the county were not named top priorities. Thompson said while local governments prioritize projects within their respective areas, the ones selected are sometimes not the highest priorities for that area.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
