TRI-CITIES -- The money has been in the pipeline. But there are growing questions about the efficacy of the Recovery Act monies being pumped into communities across the nation.

Locally, the money stacks up this way: 11-million to Franklin County. That's like 22 football fields blanketed with dollar bills.

Walla Walla County has received just under 81-million dollars. To give you an idea of the magnitude of that amount: Line up dollar bills end to end from Los Angeles to the Atlantic Ocean. Do it two and a half times.

Benton County raked in 2.5 billion dollars, an amount equivalent to 10 square miles covered with dollar bills.

Nine million dollars in Recovery funds paved the way for a new runway at Pasco's airport, and allowed for the completion of another job at the terminal. Without the money, those jobs likely would not have been done this year.

In Benton City, County Project Engineer Bryan Thorp is breathing a sigh of relief. His Webber Canyon project got a much needed million dollars. Thorp said the money came in just the perfect time.

Burlington Northern is building a bridge over the tracks at the mouth of Webber Canyon. Naturally, one would expect a road underneath. But until the Recovery Act, there was no way to make it happen.

"We had money for the bridge," he said, adding "no money for the road."

His canyon project has been ten years in the making.

Both the airport and the Webber Canyon jobs are coups for those involved, and will benefit the public, but what many people want to know is, 'Were any jobs created by these projects and others around the nation?

The truth is: It's debatable.

Mark Kushner with the Benton-Franklin Council of Governments handles transportation, and has watched over the expenditure of stimulus dollars. He said this week that it would appear there are differences between the numbers of jobs the White House claims have been created versus reality.

He shared an example. "When the project was submitted," he said, "there was one number of jobs. How Olympia and those in charge of the number of jobs created, deals with it, and comes up with a final federal tally...I think it's going to be very difficult to measure."

That's one reason many have questions about the numbers. But there are other reasons the jobs numbers just don't add up.

When an entity submits a request for a project, he enters a number indicating how many people will be needed to complete said project. The government interprets that as 'new' jobs. But in many instances, that just is not the case.

Once the county or state gets the money, contractors are hired. As for those contractors, said Bryan Thorp, "They're probably just keeping existing employees working on the job." With the economic downturn, many contractors already have too many people on hand. When a new job comes in, they plug in people they already have available. There are no 'new' jobs created.

Here's another scenario. A contractor hires a group of laborers part- time, with stimulus money. He adds up all of those part-time hours and divides by eight, and turns in the numbers. Meanwhile, his employees aren't working full time, don't get benefits, and don't have job security.

We should point out that the stimulus monies are doing great things for many contractors. Take, for example, A & B Asphalt in Benton City. The firm netted three stimulus projects. Darren Bender, who heads up the company under the owner says he's been forced to hire more people. "We've probably created a total of 10 extra jobs for the whole year."

At Hanford, thousands of people are in training. Over 2-thousand are at CH2M Hill. One of them, Ty Rose, said, "I'm very grateful for the Recovery Act funds." Not too long ago he was out of work.

The question is: Who is tracking the money. Patty Murry was caught off-guard when asked about the tracking of spending, and the transparency of those heading the program.

"This is the most transparent I've every seen in any, um, investments of federal money before."

Maybe. Maybe not. Thorp was asked whether he believes accurate numbers of jobs created will ever be available.

"No, he said. No, I don't think so. It' just too hard to track."
Kushner echoed those sentiments when asked the same question.

In the Tri-Cities, and across the nation, we may never know exactly how many jobs have been created, but clearly, the dollars spent are adding up.

Kushner warns that already there is talk of a 'Stimulus 2.' He said it's vital the community be aware, and develop an opinion before it's too late; because, he said, more taxes will be the obvious result of any additional plan.