Comprehensive Report From Delaware's Stimulus Czar
Lieutenant Governor Denn Issues Interim Report to Governor Markell
For Immediate Release: Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wilmington - Lieutenant Governor Matthew P. Denn, appointed by the Governor to oversee Delaware's implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, issued his first interim report to the Governor today on the status of ARRA implementation in Delaware. The report contains a range of statistics regarding ARRA's impact in Delaware, and a frank assessment of the areas where Delaware has excelled and where improvement is needed.
The information provided in Lieutenant Governor Denn's report indicates that:
Of the $510 million in ARRA funds received by the state as of September 30, 2009, slightly more than half of that money has been either spent or encumbered.
The rate of spending in Delaware varies widely across the categories of ARRA funding, with the largest percentages of funds having been spent in funds that go directly to subsidization of state government programs.
Available data indicates that jobs created or retained in Delaware due to ARRA fall into a range of 1,055 to 3,605 jobs. A significant number of additional jobs, potentially as many as 50% more, have been created through ARRA tax breaks and income subsidies, but it is not possible to develop a reliable number for those additional jobs.
Lieutenant Governor Denn's report indicates that Delaware state agencies have applied for all appropriate grants, that the state has aggressively encouraged private actors to do the same, that the state is carefully monitoring ARRA spending to ensure that funds are spent properly and responsibly, that the state has adopted an ambitious transparency policy, and that the state is working to encourage women and minority owned businesses to take full advantage of ARRA opportunities.
The Lieutenant Governor's report also notes some challenges facing Delaware's ARRA effort, including the need to expedite spending in a small number of programs, the need to improve the state's recovery web site, and the need to better measure participation in government contracts by women and minority owned businesses. The Lieutenant Governor's report also cautions that careful screening of ARRA expenses will become more difficult as spending accelerates, and notes that the State Auditor has been asked to focus on spending by local school districts and charter schools.
