Although initial feedback from the Virginia Health Department doesn’t appear to be promising, the Carroll County Public Service Authority (PSA) will continue to seek federal stimulus money for several local water and sewer projects.

Recently, county officials have been working to try to position themselves for a portion of President Barack Obama’s $787 billion federal stimulus package that was recently signed into law. Among those efforts were a five-day trip by County Administrator Gary Larrowe and Board of Supervisors’ Chairman David Hutchins earlier this month to Washington, D.C. and Richmond to meet with senators, delegates and other government officials.

PSA Chairman Sam Dickson said a recent meeting with Virginia Health Department officials in Abingdon did not yield encouraging news, however.

“From what we understand they are going to have about $2 billion in drinking water across the nation, and basically what Virginia is going to get is about $21 million,” Dickson said in a special meeting of the PSA on Feb. 23. “So our chances of getting anything is out of $21.8 million.”

Dickson said most of those funds will be doled out based on health issues as well. Regardless of that, Dickson said Carroll County will be ready by the time health department applications are due March 27.

“But I don’t think from the health department we are going to get a large amount, so that is just the sad facts of the stimulus,” Dickson said.

PSA Executive Director Ronald Newman said the Virginia Health Department normally receives about $10 million annually. The $21.8 million will be in addition to that, he said.

“We would have liked to have heard better, but that part is good,” Dickson said. “One locality down there said they could take every bit of it. Of course, we could too.”

After the meeting, Newman said the PSA will continue to focus on projects in which it is applying for stimulus money. Those include the long-term water project (Austinville Regional Water), Exit 19 sewer, Fancy Gap water and sewer, Exit 1 water and sewer, Honeycutt Dam water, and Cana sewer. He said the PSA will apply to federal funding agency Rural Development for all those projects, in addition to applying to the Virginia Health Department for the water projects. For the sewer projects, he said the PSA will also apply to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

During the Feb. 23 meeting, the PSA passed a resolution authorizing it to apply for DEQ funding for the sewer projects in Cana, Fancy Gap and at Exit 19 and Exit 1.

“DEQ is getting (federal stimulus) money. That is the reason for those resolutions,” Newman told the authority. “Their applications actually have to be in before the health department’s so we need to get rolling on those.”

While Newman said the bulk of the PSA’s attention is currently going toward funding agencies receiving federal stimulus money, he said the county has not stopped other water/sewer projects it’s working on such as Sylvatus/Mitchell’s Crossroads, Route 221 in Dugspur, Cliffview/Iron Ridge, Fries, and the Pridemore Self-Help Project.

“We don’t want anybody in the community to think just because they haven’t seen one us that we have dropped their project. We are still working on those,” Newman said. “The DEQ deadline is March 9 and the Health Department deadline is March 27, so we have to focus on getting the things done to get those applications in.”

Regardless of whether the PSA is able to secure stimulus funding or not, Newman said the county has already been working on some of the projects such as the Exit 19 sewer and the long-range regional water project.

Others such as the development at Exit 1 in Lambsburg are part of prior service commitments made by the county.

“The other projects will require funding and the stimulus funding seems to be at the top of the list right now,” Newman said. “But as Mr. Dickson commented in the meeting, there may be projects that don’t get stimulus money that others may, which takes the projects up the list of the normal funding cycle.”