CHEYENNE, Wyo. - The State of Wyoming released a document today that
offers an overall look at the funding the state has received from the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and its implications. 

The new Wyoming ARRA Funding Summary tracks stimulus money that has
flowed into the state through existing federal and state programs and
grants, and also attempts to summarize grant and loan funding that may
subsequently be allocated to private entities in Wyoming. 

“We have worked hard to develop this summary document which provides
the best snapshot thus far of the total impact of stimulus funds on the
State of Wyoming,” said Lynne Boomgaarden, Director of the Office of
State Lands and Investments who heads up the state’s Recovery and
Reinvestment Team. Boomgaarden said despite the team’s best effort to
carefully scrutinize the money flowing from Washington, D.C. to Wyoming,
there may still be funding streams that are not reflected in the
summary. 

Boomgaarden will offer a presentation on the impacts of stimulus
funding to the Joint Appropriations Interim Committee today at 2:30 p.m.
in Capitol Room 204. 

Developed by Deputy Director Joyce Hefenieder of the Department of
Administration and Information, the Wyoming ARRA Funding Summary shows
that the largest single amount of funding - $157 million - has flowed to
the Wyoming Department of Transportation. The department announced last
month that it leads the nation in the speed with which it has allocated
stimulus funding to road and bridge improvement projects in communities
across Wyoming. A wide range of other agencies have also received and
allocated stimulus funding, including the Wyoming Departments of
Education, Health, Workforce Services, Environmental Quality and
Agriculture, and the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office.
 
Gov. Dave Freudenthal said the summary is another step in the state’s
effort to keep the public informed on how much stimulus funding is
coming to Wyoming and how it is being spent. 

“Lynne’s team continues to do good work and to keep the public
informed about the many projects and programs that have benefitted from
this funding,” the Governor said. “There are many, many people in
Wyoming who are working this summer who might not have been if stimulus
money wasn’t flowing into our state.” 

Hefenieder said it remains challenging to develop a reliable total of
all stimulus funding that will be allocated in Wyoming. 

“Some of these funding streams are grants for which the state has
applied,” she said. “It’s impossible to know how much of this
funding will be given to the state. There are also funding streams that
flow through state agencies but go directly to beneficiaries, such as
unemployment and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding, or
food stamps. The total that the state will receive in these instances
depends on how many people qualify and this is also difficult to
determine at this point.” 

The new summary document is available online at Wyoming’s recovery
web site: http://wyoming.gov/recovery/pdf/WyomingARRAFundingSummary.pdf

In addition to the summary, the web site also includes specific
information about programs that received stimulus funding and links to
other valuable resources, articles, and Web sites, including the main
federal recovery site, www.recovery.gov. 
- A PDF of the Wyoming ARRA Funding Summary may be viewed or downloaded
here: 
http://wyoming.gov/recovery/pdf/WyomingARRAFundingSummary.pdf

Specific questions about the document should be directed to: Joyce
Hefenieder, 307-777-3335.