Written by
Michael Wooten
WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. (WGRZ) -- Based on information provided by the federal government, it appears the stimulus funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has not been evenly spread across New York State, when analyzed by population.
2 On Your Side used a Web site from NBC News to compare areas of New York State, comparing how much money WNY counties received compared to other counties, with population as the metric.
This Web site -- and our analysis -- only includes "local projects", which account for about $190 billion of the $787 billion federal stimulus package. Much of the rest of the stimulus money was spent on unemployment benefits, Medicaid and other entitlement programs (including state aid). That is not included in this analysis.
Of the funding for local projects across New York, 2 On Your Side came up with the following breakdown:
Erie County
Received $205 Million
Should have received $359 Million
Niagara County
Received $60 Million
Should have received $85 Million
Cattaraugus County
Received $145 Million
Should have received $31 Million
Chautauqua County
Received $90 Million
Should have received $53 Million
Orleans County
Received $5 Million
Should have received $17 Million
Genesee County
Received $50 Million
Should have received $23 Million
Wyoming County
Received $3 Million
Should have received $16 Million
Allegany County
Received $15 Million
Should have received $20 Million
Overall, WNY was shorted about $31 Million (based strictly on population)
For comparison purposes...
Albany County
Received $228 Million
Should have received $118 Million
New York County
Received $1.9 Billion
Should have received $646 Million
Suffolk County
Received $808 Million
Should have received $597 Million
Richmond County
Received $271 Million
Should have received $192 Million
Proponents of the federal stimulus package are quick to remind 2 On Your Side that the numbers can be somewhat deceiving, because some projects show up in the county where the receiving company is headquartered as opposed to where the work is actually completed. That may explain why Manhattan (New York County) receives so much federal funding.
Also, we stress, this analysis does not include all of the stimulus funding; however, it provides a snapshot as to where the "local projects" money is going.
For reaction and analysis, you can watch Michael Wooten's report from Channel 2 News at 5:30 in the video player.