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By Matt Kelley, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Community groups and agencies
could be overwhelmed as they receive millions of dollars from a $5
billion stimulus program to make low-income households more energy
efficient, some state officials and members of Congress warn. Some of
the groups have been faulted in the past for mismanaging thousands of
dollars a year in federal aid.
Those officials are worried about the massive increase for a program whose annual budget was $227 million last year. Auditors in five states have reported management and oversight problems in the past four years with weatherization programs, which provide energy-efficient heating or cooling systems and other improvements to lower utility bills. The Energy Department provides weatherization money to states, which then distribute it to local governments and non-profit social service agencies that screen applicants and hire contractors to perform the work. It seeks to prevent problems by requiring states to file detailed spending plans and holding back half of the funding until recipients show they're properly using the money, according to Gil Sperling, the head of the program. "We wanted to make sure that if there were problems, we were holding onto some of their money, which would be a greater incentive for (states) to fix those problems," Sperling said. Auditors in Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri and Pennsylvania have found problems with their states' oversight of weatherization programs. In Pennsylvania, for example, state investigators found in 2007 that many weatherization projects were never inspected, and a failure to coordinate activities of two agencies in Philadelphia wasted $94,000 by weatherizing the same homes twice. Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner said he supports the program but worries his state will have problems managing the $253 million in stimulus money. "Contracts will go out quicker, and they will be bigger," he said. "You have to ratchet up your eligibility checks and monitoring of work being done." Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who like Wagner is a Democrat, told the House Oversight Committee last week that state officials initially "didn't have a clue how to ramp up" the weatherization program. Rendell said Pennsylvania is working to bring in private firms to do some of the weatherization work and is imposing stricter oversight. "When you throw 25 times as much money at this program, you're going to lose 20% to 30% of it to fraud," says Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a stimulus critic. Coburn points to Nevada, where a local housing authority has sued to block a $1.8 million stimulus award to Community Services Agency Development Corp., claiming the state did not fund the non-profit last year because of mismanagement. Lori Story, the non-profit's lawyer, denied the claim and said it simply decided not to apply for weatherization funds in 2008. Officials in Florida don't anticipate problems. The Manatee Community Action Agency on Florida's Gulf Coast typically got $20,000 to $40,000 in recent years to provide air conditioning and better insulation to 20 homes of low-income residents. Now the agency is set to receive about $2.6 million for such projects. The Bradenton, Fla.-based agency, which has a waiting list of 125-plus homes, has hired two new workers and lined up three more contracting companies and two air conditioning suppliers for the extra work. "It's a tremendous amount of money," said the agency's executive director, Barbara Patten, who noted the group will have three years to use its stimulus allocation. "I don't anticipate any difficulty in spending it."
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Comments: (178) Showing: New: Most recommended! 
obamanbinliar (0 friends, send message) wrote:
1d 21h ago
WHERE ARE ALL THOSE NEW JOBS, Barry Obama?
Cassndra8 (18 friends, send message) wrote:
7/16/2009 8:08:02 PM
The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think
The average length of unemployment is higher than it's been since government began tracking the data in 1948. Read this article in the Wall Street Journal by Mort Zuckerman, chairman and editor in chief of U.S. News & World Report. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124753066246235811.html 
wa-ntcc (0 friends, send message) wrote:
7/16/2009 4:10:58 AM
more make believe jobs -- with nothing to show for my tax money
purplenights (1 friends, send message) wrote:
7/16/2009 1:57:40 AM
Can't we use the bulk of this money to help the poor illegals with insurance, housing and education costs?
Skjohn (1 friends, send message) wrote:
7/15/2009 10:28:34 PM
My
God, more insanity. We are spending money we don't have on plans that
are not ready, at a cost far higher than the actual energy savings that
will be returned for the 'investment' made (investment that comes from
either higher taxes on the people who actually pay taxes or a loan from
China). What is wrong with people? Trillions on Heath Care for
Americans that don't take care for themselves and illegals that
shouldn't be here and then billions on stimulus that will generate a
negative ROI. Is this what you voted for to 'Change' America? NObama
please!!
tgp62 (0 friends, send message) wrote:
7/15/2009 9:55:07 PM
Mark Anthony 72 (0 friends, send message) wrote: 13h 13m ago
If no money is provided, people complain; if money is provided, people complain that it will be mis-managed...darned if you do, darned if you don't. _________________________________________________ Not true. Those of us that pride ourselves on taking care of our families don't need handouts.
tgp62 (0 friends, send message) wrote:
7/15/2009 9:32:05 PM
Why
is any of this money being used to repair homes owned by individuals? I
thought it was to be used for the good of the people, meaning public
projects. This administration is running this country, except for those
who generally won't provide for themselves, into the ground.
Breeeze (40 friends, send message) wrote:
7/15/2009 5:48:21 PM
specialneedsmom (0 friends, send message) wrote: 10m ago
These endless calls of socialist. . . sigh. What nonsense. Last I looked the government wasn't taking over LLBean or JC Penney's. . . or any thing else for that matter. Banks are re-paying their federal loans. As did Chrysler last time we bailed them out and GM and Chrysler will pay back again. My parents used the GI Bill to buy their home - and they are still in it. They paid that loan back, too. --------------------- Nonsense? The retailers you mention aren't going to be out of government's new extended reach either. I forgot to mention Cap and Trade, another bigee, maybe the biggest governmental intrusion of all. By curtailing production of power through the so called polluting sources, electricity and probably gasoline are going to shoot through the roof. That will seriously dent any businessman's bottom line, to say nothing about the average homeowner and consumer. Then back to Health Care, to fund that, there's going to be new graduated higher rates of taxation on individuals and businesses like JCPenney, etc. When they fail, we'll be buying our clothes from the government distribution centers where you have your choice of two colors - brown or khaki. 
American People (86 friends, send message) wrote:
7/15/2009 5:44:06 PM
specialneedsmom (0 friends, send message) wrote:7m ago
Rising oil prices could cause inflation too. Too bad GW and company were hand in hand with the Saudi's. ____________________ I'm not sure what your point is regarding GW because Obama is no different regarding the Saudi's. In fact, a case can be made that Obama could be even worse. The inflation you're talking about is caused by an excessive growth of the money supply, which is what Obama will have to do to pay for the massive, irresponsible spending over the last 6 months. |
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