Funding paths still unclear

It's become something of an Easter-egg hunt for Georgia officials as they try to figure out how to access funding from the $787 billion federal stimulus package.

While the state has taken $1.5 billion that came directly to Gov. Sonny Perdue and will be used to balance the budget over the next two fiscal years, a lot more money will be distributed by federal agencies through grants or low-interest loans. Accessing those funds is part of the scramble by Georgia officials, who are waiting for agencies to come up with plans for how the money will be distributed.

The Medical College of Georgia is hoping to cash in on some of the $1 billion that has been set aside by the National Institutes of Health for research building construction, renovation and repair. The school submitted a list with $33 million in "shovel-ready" research projects, said William Bowes, MCG's senior vice president for finance and administration.

The school also created a list with $35 million in other renovation funds, with some overlap from the other list, he said. That list, along with others from the University System of Georgia, went to the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority, which is waiting on instruction from the U.S. Energy Department, said authority spokesman Shane Hix.

"We're expecting about $82-$85 million worth of stimulus funds for that particular program," he said.

Georgia Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Evans, is pushing a bill that would allow businesses and homeowners to apply to the authority for other energy funds to improve energy conservation.

"Hopefully, as we go through the next three or four weeks, we'll get more detail," Mr. Hix said.

Other money might come through established routes. For instance, the $8.2 billion the NIH set aside from research priorities could fund projects from Georgia research universities that scored well in peer review but were left out because the funding agency "didn't have enough money to fund everything that was a good project," said Shelley Nickel, the University System of Georgia's associate vice chancellor for planning and implementation.

So for now she and others wait for clues from federal funding agencies.

"It is very, very complex," she said.