Stimulus Spending and Jobs to Peak in Tennessee This Quarter

The Tennessee official who oversees the spending of federal stimulus money says the state has probably peaked in its use of those funds.

Mike Morrow, the “stimulus czar” for Tennessee, told lawmakers Monday that contracts to spend this year’s stimulus funds were mostly signed by the end of October and that the resulting jobs have increased each quarter since then.

“I believe 6,600 jobs the first quarter we reported, September 30th, 7,500 jobs for December thirty-one, so … that’s been the growth.”

Morrow says he expects the March 31st report will show that stimulus spending and jobs have leveled off.

Tennessee received about $5.5 billion in federal stimulus money for the current budget year.

Web Extra

The state’s full report on spending of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds is here.

This Excel file from the state breaks down specific types of projects and how much was spent on each.