MOUNT VERNON — Roger Shooter, director of the Knox County Department of Job & Family Services, provided statistics Monday to update the Board of Commissioners on how much federal stimulus money Knox County has received.
According to the figures posted by the state, Knox County has received $4,286,620 of dedicated stimulus funds to date, while having a percentage share of another $5,914,000 in funding awarded in multicounty grants.
The Knox-specific grants were in infrastructure (a $311,000 rural transit grant to MOTA), public safety (a $22,500 grant to Knox County Juvenile Court and a $40,500 grant from the Violence Against Women Act to New Directions), education (combined grants worth a total of $2.9 million), energy (totaling $386,000, including $286,000 awarded to the village of Danville from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund), and work/poverty related grants (totaling $541,000 from the Workforce Investment Act, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the Senior Community Service Employment Program) awarded to the Department of Job & Family Services.
Multicounty allocations included infrastructure grants to Knox and Muskingum counties, energy grants for home weatherization to Kno-Ho-Co-Ashland, and the usual yearly Community Services Block Grant.
Commissioner Allen Stockberger said the $1.1 million infrastructure grant to Knox and Muskingum counties looked more impressive when they were first informed about it by Rep. Zack Space. In reality, 90 percent of that grant was for road, bridge and rail projects in Muskingum County.
