Stimulus Projects Under Review

With all the communities across the nation vying for a piece of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus money, Hernando County will be fortunate if it gets even one green-lighted project, County Commission Chairman David Russell said Tuesday.

That is why it is vital the county choose a project from its so-called "Top 10" capital improvement list that will have the best chance of getting money, Russell stressed.

As Russell said, "we need to make that (one project) count."

"We need to separate the wants from the needs and the wheat from the chaff," he said.

With that in mind, commissioners directed staff to determine which project has the potential for creating the most jobs and economic activity.

Deputy County Administrator Larry Jennings agreed that picking a project that demonstrates long-term growth would give Hernando County a better chance at federal dollars.

Jennings also reminded commissioners the project list is a fluid document that could be refined once the federal government issues more clear-cut rules on the stimulus package.

"We don't know what the rules are, so we are trying to get ourselves positioned," Jennings said.

The list of projects that staffers will start dissecting include:

•The Glen Wastewater Treatment Plant: $20 million

•Hexam Water Treatment Plant: $2.8 million

•Hexam Waste Treatment Plant Transmission System: $4 million

•Judicial Complex: $50 million

•Sunshine Grove Road Improvements (encompassing State Road 50 to Ken Austin Parkway): $8 million

•South Brooksville improvements (ditch drainage work: $2 million

•Southwest Airport Industrial Park: $5.7 million

•Air Traffic Control Tower: $2.7 million

•Deltona Boulevard Reconstruction (Spring Hill Drive to Forest Oaks): $16.5 million

•County Line Road: $20 million

County Commissioner Jim Adkins said there is one project, that didn't make the top 10 list, he would like to see submitted: the improvement of limerock roads in Hernando County.

The Department of Public Works estimates it will cost $1.5 million to pave nine miles of the most-needed roads.

County Commissioner John Druzbick believes the water treatment plants are a top priority because of the expected population growth in the county's northwest region.

It is vital that water resources be in place to accommodate that growth as well as future jobs there, Druzbick said.

County Administrator David Hamilton said the project list is not about the county spending money.

"It's about the jobs that will be created," he said.

Commissioners will start paring down the list - beginning with the traffic projects - at its Feb. 11 Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting.