Amount of discretionary funds estimated at $15 millionThe stimulus bill recently passed by Congress contains money that may benefit Wyoming, but state officials warn that the money does not mean a windfall for state and local governments.

Lynn Boomgaarden, director of the State Lands and Investments Board, said the additional spending is not structured by individual communities, but will be spent mostly through existing state and federal programs.

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Boomgaarden said she is leading a recently-formed Wyoming Recovery and Reinvestment Team, which was formed from state agencies that may be affected. The team is still trying to sort out the details of the bill and figure out how much money is available and how it will be distributed. She called the bill a “monstrous bill and very technical.” The Federal Office of Management and Budget is still developing guidelines and communicating them to the relevant federal agencies.

“I think it will be two or three weeks before we get some information, and then it will probably trickle in,” Boomgaarden said.

According to figures presented by Boomgaarden, the amount of discretionary funds available to Wyoming is approximately $15 million in a state fiscal stabilization fund. Even in that fund, the scope of eligible projects is unknown, and the governor must apply to the U.S. secretary of education for the money.

Non-discretionary money will be available for capital infrastructure, environmental protection, education, health and human services, workforce training, employment law enforcement, victim services, economic development, energy and research, but Boomgaarden said the funding and its distribution is “a moving target.”

“The amounts and interpretations of the bill are changing,” she said.

Some funding, such as highway money, will be distributed to states by formula, while other money, such as some education funding, will be distributed through Title I or other existing federal education programs. Other funding will be available through competitive grants.

Boomgaarden said an estimated total of more than $500 million may be available, but the total “is not determinable” at this time.

She added that some of the money in the bill is allocated to federal agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and she assumes some of that money will be spent in Wyoming.

Additional funding may go to individuals, such as an increase in Pell grants for students attending college.

As some state governors have complained, receiving some of the funding would require the state to change statutes, and some would require changes in administration rules. Boomgaarden said the State Lands and Investment Board is considering some emergency rule changes in response.

Near the end of the press conference, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said, “There will be some funds we won't take,” because they would require changing laws. The state's unemployment laws don't provide for extended benefits funded in the stimulus bill, for example.

“We'll use the parts which fit into our agenda,” Freudenthal said. “Those funds that don't fit should rightly go to states that will use them.”

Freudenthal also said the state should be cautious about using stimulus funds to expand programs for which the extra funding would end down the road.

“It doesn't make sense to have a big expansion and then, when the funding ends, have to say, ‘never mind.'”

Freudenthal said he is confident the extra highway money will be available, and the state will take it.

Boomgaarden said the state is working to develop a Web page that will make information about the funding available as it is clarified.