In Philadelphia, federal bucks not very stimulating

City efforts to spend dollars from President Obama's $787 billion stimulus program continue to pick up steam, officials said yesterday, although the job numbers remain low and money cannot be used to help solve the city's budget problems.

"It is what it is," said Budget Director Steve Agostini. "We are trying to do the best we can with the resources that we have."

Through June 30, the city and related agencies had received $315 million in grant funding, said Deputy Budget Director Maari Porter. Of the $248 million directly controlled by the city, $20 million has been spent and another $50 million pledged to projects.

In all, roughly 300 jobs have been created through stimulus funds, budget officials said. They include new police officers, construction workers and positions associated with newly created health and homelessness programs.

Still, the jobs number is tiny when you look at the city's overall job loss. Agostini said the number of unemployed people in Philadelphia jumped from 42,617 in January 2008 to 74,142 in May 2010. The unemployment rate was 11.8 percent in May.

"Three hundred jobs is small in that context, but we're spending and ramping up spending," Agostini said.

The city drew criticism last October, when the administration reported that after being awarded $157 million, less than $1 million had been spent and only 52 jobs retained.

"We are the first to admit that the spending at the beginning wasn't as fast as we hoped," said Porter. She said that some projects took time to develop and that others could be done only at certain times of year - like street repaving.

The stimulus act was Obama's attempt to kick-start the failing economy through tax cuts, expanded social services and grant funding for infrastructure, education and scientific research.

The impact of stimulus money is visible on Philly's streets. The city has installed LED traffic lights, expanded the number of trash-compacting BigBelly rubbish bins and renovated decaying houses across the city using stimulus money. Street repaving is being done throughout the city, as well as major improvements at the airport.

But while the stimulus spending benefits the city, the money cannot be used to bolster the ailing general fund, which has been battered by poor tax returns. Mayor Nutter just made another round of budget cuts to key services like police and fire to balance the books.

Bruce Katz, vice president at the Brookings Institution and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program, said more help to city governments is still needed.

"There needs to be more direct aid to cities and municipalities," said Katz. "The failure to provide state and local aid is going to have the affect of losing public sector jobs just as we're creating private sector ones."

Nutter was in Washington on Tuesday with the U.S. Conference of Mayors and other city advocacy groups to call on Congress to pass a jobs bill that would provide direct aid to cities like Philadelphia.