GLOVERSVILLE - Area officials are compiling project wish lists as they seek pieces of the nation's $787 billion economic recovery plan.
Money filtering down from the federal government through the stimulus package should help locally with bridge, road and other municipal projects.
Federal and state officials representing the area are still uncertain how much of the money will trickle down and where it will go.
"I don't have a specific list," Beau Duffy, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Paul D. Tonko, D-Amsterdam, said Tuesday.
Tonko said Tuesday a "number of projects" proposed for Fulton and Montgomery counties will go through the state Department of Transportation.
One project not expected to be funded through the stimulus package is a proposed pedestrian bridge across the Mohawk River in Amsterdam.
Duffy said that project was worked on by Tonko when he was a state assemblyman and will be funded separately through a state Transportation Bond Act from 2005.
Tonko said the stimulus funding probably will filter down through the governor's office in early spring.
"I would think they will work that out in the next month or two," Tonko said.
Tonko's 21st Congressional District includes Montgomery County and parts of Fulton County.
Duffy said the destination of much of the road, bridge and infrastructure money will be decided by Gov. David Paterson and his agencies.
State Sen. Hugh T. Farley, R-Niskayuna, said this morning his staff is still "researching" what projects can be funded by stimulus money in Fulton and Montgomery counties.
He said he doesn't like the recovery plan.
"I am very disappointed in the stimulus package," Farley said. "I don't think it stimulates the way it should."
According to the bill, $48 billion is earmarked nationwide for transportation projects, including $27.5 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair. Another $8.4 billion is set aside for mass transit, $8 billion for construction of high-speed railways, $1.3 billion for Amtrak, $4.6 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers, $4 billion for public housing improvements, $6 billion for clean water and drinking water projects, $7.2 billion to bring broadband Internet service to underserved areas, and $4.2 billion to repair and modernize U.S. Department of Defense facilities.
Local public works and planning officials are seeking funding for potential projects.
"I've got a couple paving projects and a couple bridge projects," Fulton County Highways & Facilities Superintendent Mark Yost said Tuesday.
Yost said he understands New York state will receive $1.1 billion for roads and bridges, and less than $50 million of that will be earmarked for the local region.
Much of that funding, he said, will be absorbed into DOT projects.
Yost said he's requesting about $800,000 for projects for Fulton County.
Among those proposed stimulus-funded projects, Yost said, is 4.5 miles of paving on County Highway 110 to the Saratoga County line, mostly in the town of Northampton. He said the area to be paved would mostly go from the village of Broadalbin to the town of Northampton.
Yost said he would like to pave part of County Highway 107 in the town of Broadalbin.
He said he has 144 miles of county road he's responsible for in Fulton County, and only 33 of those miles are on the National Highway System. Yost said the only roads on the National Highway System are eligible for stimulus funding.
Yost said one of the bridge projects he's considering for stimulus funding is a bridge in the town of Bleecker the county owns on Barlow Creek Road.
Johnstown city officials said Tuesday they're seeking stimulus money for the North Perry Street bridge replacement project.
Montgomery County Public Works Commissioner Paul H. Clayburn couldn't be reached this morning for comment.
Leon Peck, president of the Johnstown Water Board, said the Water Department is seeking stimulus money for the $3.5 million Maylender Reservoir cover project mandated by the state Department of Health.
He said the board considered the money "in January, when it became obvious one of the things the president wanted to do was to push shovel-ready projects."
Johnstown already has been awarded $350,000 in state funding through Farley's office for that project.
"We expect to be in construction this summer," Peck said.
Fulton County Planning Director James Mraz said the county is requesting stimulus funding for a county salt storage project.