WASHINGTON -The enormous federal stimulus program is delivering billions of dollars across Maryland in uneven waves, a Baltimore Sun analysis shows, with some struggling areas faring better than others.
Parts of the state have benefited from Washington's desire to spend money quickly, with ready-to-go projects collecting early infusions of money. And Maryland as a whole has come out ahead, thanks in part to long-term investments in science and education that are a major part of the stimulus law.
Government officials say recovery aid has been targeted to places with the greatest need, and for the most part that appears to be the case. The city of Baltimore, Allegany County in Western Maryland and Somerset County on the Eastern Shore, among the hardest hit by joblessness, have received up to five times more stimulus spending per capita as prosperous Howard and Carroll counties.
At the same time, other areas facing some of the worst unemployment in the state, such as Cecil and Washington counties, have received considerably less on a proportional basis. Maryland officials, sensitive to criticism that stimulus money is being distributed unfairly, point out that the state is often just a conduit for federal aid that is dispersed according to formulas written in Washington.
"Within the discretion that the recovery program gives us, we're doing all we can to see that those that need it most are getting these recovery dollars," said Michael Enright, who is overseeing the state effort for Gov. Martin O'Malley. "It's not a perfect solution and there's no doubt we can improve on it, but we are working toward that end right now."
Overall, Maryland has benefited, thanks in part to its proximity to Washington and its biotechnology and education sectors, which have been showered with stimulus money. In spite of the state's affluence - and a jobless rate well below the national level - Maryland has reaped above-average amounts of stimulus funding, on a per person basis.
The Sun examined hundreds of government contracts and grant awards to compile county-by-county totals of money directed to Maryland under the stimulus law, formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The city of Baltimore, with the largest concentration of low-income residents and the highest unemployment rate in the state along with Dorchester, has been awarded the most, $675.3 million, as of Oct. 1. Well-to-do Montgomery, the state's most populous county, got $579 million, a figure fattened by federal contracts for businesses in the Washington suburbs.
