Third in a Sunday series.

BY COLIN HICKEY

Staff Writer

The hope is that $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion in federal stimulus money coming to Maine directly through state government will create or preserve up to 15,000 jobs in the state and prevent an even deeper economic downturn later.

But there is a fear as well.

Rep. Susan Austin, R-Gray, in a commentary for the Maine House Republicans Web site, questioned the long-term viability and impact of those jobs:

"Will the 15,000 Maine jobs created by the stimulus disappear along with the stimulus money? Once (northbound) I-295 has been rebuilt, will those road construction workers have other projects to tackle? In short, will the stimulus lead to lasting improvements to the Maine economy?"

State Finance Commissioner Ryan Low says the stimulus money rather should be viewed for what it is.

"It's to stimulate the economy in the short term."

The bigger question is whether predictions of a two- or three-year recession prove to be accurate, he said. "Only time will tell," he added.

Restrictive funds

State officials did not receive a billion dollars from Washington, D.C., to spend as they wish.

Not by a long shot.

"The reality is the vast majority of the stimulus or Recovery Act funds is already targeted for us by the federal government," Low said. "It is not like state government gets to exactly allocate those resources."

Some stimulus money bypasses state government entirely.

Low said about $600 million in stimulus funds is coming in the form of tax benefits to Mainers.

Some of the money appears to be going directly to projects, rather than through the state, such as $2.5 million to Northern Maine Regional Airport in Presque Isle. Low said he doesn't have a good estimate on how much of this direct funding Maine might receive.

Nicole Witherbee, a budget analyst with the Maine Center for Economic Policy in Augusta, said most of the stimulus money distributed by the state went to education and health care, including $334 million in Medicaid relief.

The funds will be used to preserve rather than to create jobs in many cases, she said. And those jobs could be temporary, ending "after months or a year or 18 months," Witherbee said.

She said the stimulus package also includes money to retrain people for weatherization work and other "green jobs" expected to emerge -- a byproduct of growing concerns over the environment and higher energy costs.

"We need to begin thinking about how we get people trained for jobs that require more than a high school education," she said. "Getting people into industries that sustain the American family is going to be important."

Speed emphasized

Oakland Town manager Peter Nielsen is getting a first-hand lesson on the challenges of economic stimulus money.

He is dealing with a $5 million to $6 million sewer project proposal that involves accessing stimulus funds from both the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development office.

Between the two agencies, Oakland could get $3.5 million in federal money to apply toward the project.

But much has to transpire before this can happen, including making the tight deadline on putting shovel to dirt. The work needs to begin by June 15, he said.

Before that date, Nielsen has to get Oakland residents to approve the expenditure, as well as negotiate a mutually acceptable agreement with Waterville Sewerage District -- the system the Oakland Sewerage District would send its wastewater under the proposal.

Yet even before these critical hurdles are cleared, preliminary steps had to be taken. Nielsen said to meet the June 15 deadline, he had to arrange for survey, engineer and design work.

James H. Fitch Jr. senior vice president of Woodard & Curran, a Portland engineering firm, has been handling some of that for Oakland.

Fitch said the Oakland Sewerage District currently discharges treated wastewater into an impounded portion of Messalonskee Stream, a practice that state law no longer allows.

DEP, however, has allowed the district to continue that method of discharge until an affordable alternative is found. Fitch said the stimulus money appears to make the tie-in with Waterville that affordable option.

Fitch said as much as seven miles of pipes would have to be laid and a whole host of materials -- pumps, valves, flow meters, manhole covers, crushed stone, gravel -- would have to be purchased.

"It will go for a year," he said. "There is a lot of work to do."

But no one can say for sure how many jobs the project will create or save.

Some better than none

Finance commissioner Low acknowledges that the stipulations placed on stimulus funds can be frustrating.

"Some additional flexibility certainly would have been nice," he said. "This doesn't really apply to Maine, but one of the things I heard (at a conference) from other states is that they wished that there hadn't been so much funds earmarked for weatherization."

In Maine's case, being a cold-weather state, such an allocation made sense.

Low said he is far more grateful than frustrated by the stimulus money.

"It's hard to receive over a billion dollars worth of funds and complain about it," he said. "This will have a significant impact on the economy and preserve a lot of jobs."

Colin Hickey -- 861-9205

chickey@centralmaine.com