LITTLE ROCK — State highway officials have a message for the federal government: If you give us money, you can’t have it back. Not even a buck.
Arkansas highway officials offered no apologies Wednesday for going after the dollar after finding out that federal officials wanted it back because it hadn’t been spent.
“A dollar is a dollar,” said Scott Henderson, assistant chief engineer for planning at the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, sparking a round of laughter at a Highway Commission meeting.
To keep the buck, though, the state had to come up with its share of matching funds.
“We had to match it with a quarter,” Dan Flowers, the department’s director, deadpanned.
The dollar was transferred to a bridge project on a branch of Huzzah Creek in Boone County, raising the total amount authorized for the project to $238,191.
Commission member Dick Trammel of Rogers thanked the department for looking out for Northwest Arkansas.
“I’m glad to know I am getting some funding up there,” he said, tongue firmly in cheek.
When Congress in July decided to take back $1 left over from a bridge project in Northwest Arkansas, the Highway Department leapt into action, quickly reobligating the buck.
The deal between the department and the Federal Highway Administration was signed, sealed and delivered Wednesday.
The dollar dates back to 1991, when it was part of a $19.5 million earmark for projects on U.S. 412 between Mountain Home and Harrison.
A resolution rescinding unspent funds has passed in the House and is awaiting action in the Senate. The resolution rescinds unobligated funding for 309 projects, which its backers say would save taxpayers $713 million. Well, make that $712,999,999 - because $1 of it is now securely Arkansas’.
Actually, the state Highway Department also reobligated $42,006 for a project on U.S.71 between Alma and Greenwood that the resolution had wanted rescinded. The state had no such luck keeping $132,528 left from the earmark on the proposed Great River Bridge on U.S. 82.
As for the dollar, commission member Cliff Hoofman of North Little Rock wondered how much getting it back cost.
“We’ve probably spent several hundred dollars in paperwork for that dollar,” he wryly observed.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 09/30/2010