Face the State Staff Report
Face The State has obtained data from the Colorado Department of Transportation claiming 65 jobs "created or sustained" as a result of the federal stimulus package through May, though a breakout of new jobs is unavailable. According to CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman, "the stimulus really saved jobs more than it created them."
State of Colo.
Colorado is slated to receive over $500 million for statewide transportation projects from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, $400 million of which is designated for "shovel ready" projects to commence this year. Three projects allocated a total of $7 million in ARRA funds were begun by the end of May and are ongoing (PDF). Since receiving the money in March, a total of 2,593 hours were logged by "direct, on-project" workers for a total payroll of $83,068.20 (PDF).
According to the state Department of Labor and Employment, the number of employed Coloradans dropped by over 83,000 over the year ending May 31, adjusted for normal seasonal fluctuations (PDF).
Stegman said the stimulus funding has largely allowed the department to stay on course with planned projects that might otherwise have been scrapped or deferred. "We were facing some huge cuts to transportation funding and looking at almost no summer projects," she said.
CDOT requires all contractors to track and report the number of jobs on each site and hours worked by employees on stimulus-funded projects. Normally, CDOT does not require contractors to track worker counts or payroll for reporting to the state.
A recent fact check by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Center for Public Policy questioned the Obama administration's claim that the stimulus would save or create 150,000 jobs, calling it a "soft statistic" based on "educated guesswork."
U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, voted against the stimulus bill. "No doubt, I never had faith that big government bureaucrats could do anything quickly or efficiently," he said. "[T]he Ritter administration has unfortunately demonstrated exactly that with their handling of stimulus dollars."
State lawmakers made their own efforts to increase employment through transportation projects funded by FASTER, an omnibus bill that raised vehicle registration fees by $265 million. State Rep. Glenn Vaad, R-Mead, said that until the increased revenue from FASTER kicks in, the stimulus money helps to bridge the gap.
"It's responsible for keeping people employed in the interim," said Vaad. "The $265 million for repair from increased vehicle fees won't be available until at least a full year has gone by."
As previously reported by Face The State, stimulus-funded CDOT projects are marked by specially designed signage produced at a cost of up to $1,237 apiece.