City seeks help despite no-earmark pledge

Carson City hopes to get more than $47 million in projects supported by President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus bill despite promises that the bill will have no earmarks.

Money from the bill expected to raise between $775 billion and $1 trillion for public works and tax incentives will go to federal and state agencies, said John Summers, representative for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Reid will watch Nevada projects to try to make sure they are supported once money reaches agencies, Summers said. Local governments also know how to show agencies that they are in need, he said.

Project requests from Carson City include $12 million for the V&T Railway, $19 million for the Carson City Airport, $8 million for city streets and $8 million for sewer treatment plant upgrades, according to a letter sent to Reid from Mayor Bob Crowell and former-Mayor Marv Teixeira.

Crowell and Teixeira also said in the letter they wanted to remind Reid how important the city bypass and federally funded health department programs are to the city.

The promise of no earmarks means the city will have to ask agencies for project funding, Crowell said, but that doesn't change the city's needs.

"Carson City will have its voice heard," he said.

The city itself has little money for large projects. It has had to freeze jobs, delay projects and cut millions from 2008 and 2009 budgets to deal with the slow economy.

Without aid, some programs at the city health department could be cut, said Carson City Health and Human Services Director Marena Works.

One program offering child immunizations and other services is funded by a $50,000 annual federal grant the city might lose this year, she said.

The department also expects more patients because of rural mental health clinics that will be closed, she said.

But Reid has been able to help the city with projects before. The V&T Railway got $10 million of the $37 million it now has in a federal transportation bill because of Reid's efforts in 2005.

The Nevada Department of Transportation doesn't know if it will push for the $150 million to $160 million it will take to finish the last leg of the city bypass, said Scott Magruder, department representative.

The department does think the stimulus bill is important, he said, and wants to show the new administration that it's ready to start on projects that need funding.

- Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.