State officials say 136 communities have applied for funding for projects under the latest phase of the I-Jobs program. The state program has $118-million available to communities, counties and nonprofit organizations for projects to rebuild and replace local public buildings, flood control and protection, and future flood prevention.
The applications asked for double the amount allocated, and Phil Roeder, a spokesman for the governor, says that means an expansion of the program will likely be considered during the next legislative session. Roeder says,"I think the fact that there was such great demand for the local infrastructure funds sends a pretty loud and clear message to people across the state including people here at the state capital that we’ve got some real needs and there’s a real interest across the state in this type of support."
Roeder says several communities should benefit from the money. He says while the demand exceeds the funds available, the good news is that there is over 188-million dollars available that will go out in the near future. Roeder says the applications will be considered at an I-JOBS board meeting at the end of the month.
"They’ll probably start to make at least some of the funding decisions and approvals at that point. Because of that we’ll be seeing funds from I-JOBS for local infrastructure projects start to go out perhaps sometime as early as September," Roeder says. The first phase of the infrastructure money — 46-point-five million dollars — was approved in June for specific projects in communities hit during last year’s storms and floods.
You can see a summary of the applications received on the I-JOBS website .