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WASHINGTON — If the government wants to create jobs, it should pump money into metropolitan areas rather than sending it to the countryside, Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle said Tuesday.
Suttle said he is particularly concerned about the way Nebraska has divided up the more than $20 million it received in federal economic stimulus money for wastewater projects. Omaha is set to receive only $3.75 million of that, and Suttle said Omaha had to fight for that share.
“The governor promptly parceled it out to the smaller towns and cities,” Suttle said. “Omaha had to beg and prod (for the funds).”
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman responded that because the stimulus money was intended to move quickly, the state looked at the priority list already on hand. Omaha was not at the top of that list.
“I’m disappointed that (Suttle) doesn’t understand that Nebraska is a big state and that we need to work together,” Heineman said. “It can’t just be about Omaha. It’s about the entire state. . . . (Former) Mayor (Mike) Fahey understood that, and I’m not sure Mayor Suttle has so far.”
Suttle was in Washington this week seeking opportunities for more federal funding to help Omaha deal with priorities such as sewers. There is talk, for example, of a second stimulus bill. Suttle said more stimulus money needs to come directly to cities such as Omaha, where it would do the most good.
Suttle specifically cited Broken Bow, which is receiving $2.5 million in sewer funds from this year’s $787 billion stimulus bill. Substantial amounts also are going to Scottsbluff, Chadron and Sidney.
“Omaha should have had 75 percent of the sewer stimulus money that came to the state of Nebraska,” Suttle said.
There’s no question Omaha faces massive needs when it comes to sewers. The city is moving forward on a federally mandated $1.6 billion overhaul of its sewer system. That undertaking will be funded largely through sewer fees, which are expected to rise sharply as a result.
Suttle said that not only does Omaha have the biggest needs, but the size of its projects also carries the greatest potential to create jobs — the core purpose of the economic stimulus legislation.
“If you want to put people to work, you’ve got to get the money into the engines that are stalled, and those engines are the cities, the big cities, and then it radiates back out to the next tier cities and the rural areas,” Suttle said. “That’s the way the economy works.”
The sewer funds were awarded based on the state’s priority list, which lists wastewater projects according to which ones would deliver the greatest benefit to water quality, said Mike Linder, director of the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. Omaha’s projects were not at the top of that list.
In fact, Linder said that Omaha would not have received a dime of the stimulus money if the state had not decided to blend those funds with $34 million in other federal sewer project funding. That blending was an effort to stretch the stimulus money.
The overall pot of more than $54 million was distributed in the form of low-interest loans, no-interest loans and direct grants. Linder pointed out that of the total $54 million, Omaha is receiving $15 million.
Linder also said that the city previously had received more than $30 million in other subsidized loans from the department.
“They’ve been a good customer over the years,” he said, “so this isn’t the only opportunity they’ve had to participate in” sewer project funding.
Broken Bow received more than $5 million of the $54 million total. That money is for a new mechanical wastewater treatment facility and upgrades to existing pumping stations.
City Administrator Anthony Tolstedt said he understands that Omaha is a big economic center. But he said that his community has to meet the same requirements as everyone else and that its projects are worthwhile.
“We think we’re deserving of these monies and we’re going to fight for them,” Tolstedt said.
Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., was careful not to criticize Heineman, saying the governor is responsible for considering the needs of the entire state. Still, Terry said, Omaha should get a bigger share of the funds than it has received.
Asked about the allocation of funds for rural areas compared to Omaha’s, Terry said: “I think a lot of Omahans would raise their eyebrows over that.”
Contact the writer:
202-662-7270, joe.morton@owh.com
