Federal Stimulus logoWhat Albany
gets from the
Federal Stimulus Program

The City of Albany will receive $1,044,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal economic stimulus program) to be used on street improvements. These funds will be used for street pavement overlays on:

Bid prices on these projects will ultimately determine if we will have enough funding to do all of these streets. Street overlay construction should happen in the summer of 2009.

City officials chose to use these special federal funds for street overlays for several reasons. First, the Oregon Department of Transportation is taking care of permitting for overlays statewide, allowing the City to complete projects quicker and to use most of the funds on actual street improvements. Without the statewide permit, Albany would have to spend a lot of the money on permitting and other details that the federal government requires.

Second, the requirements attached to these federal funds would have made it hard for Albany to get projects underway quickly enough to spend the money quickly enough to meet federal deadlines. If we couldn’t meet a deadline, the state of Oregon could give Albany’s federal money to another community or use it themselves. We feel that it is important to spend Albany’s allocation here.

Transit

Finally, using stimulus dollars quickly made Albany eligible for more federal stimulus money through ODOT. Through a competitive statewide application process (330 applications for more than $500 million in projects from only $69 million in federal funds), Albany received an additional $650,000 for the Albany Station train depot. The money will be used to expand the park-and-ride area, part of the Station’s master plan.

Albany has also received $545,000 for Albany Transit System and $313,000 for the Linn-Benton Loop System. The money will be used to buy two new buses, transit shelters and make other improvements to the transit system.

Energy Conservation

Another $201,000 from the stimulus package is directed at energy conservation projects and will be used to improve energy use in several City government buildings.

The list of proposed projects is available here. Only the projects above have been funded to date.

Transportation:

Engineering:

Environmental Services:

Streets & Traffic:

Water & Sewer:

Related Council Boards & Commissions: