Ohio Meets Preliminary ARRA Reporting Requirements

Thousands of Jobs Created or Retained

Columbus, Ohio – Ohio Office of Budget and Management Director Pari Sabety today announced that Ohio has met the first federal reporting requirement for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) loans, grants and contracts spending data.

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Of the more than $8.5 billion that the state is expected to receive during this multi-year program, approximately $1.6 billion has been expended – only $335.6 million of which falls within the requirements to be reported during this period, the first of quarterly reporting periods (through September 30).

The balance of approximately $1.2 billion in expenditures is not reflected in the data, which includes: Medicaid spending, unemployment benefits; Pell grants; food stamps assistance; Supplemental Security Income payments; COBRA reductions, and several other programs.

Preliminary data submitted by state agencies indicates that there were 13,144 full-time equivalent positions directly created or retained in Ohio as a result of Recovery Act funds received by those agencies.

Prime recipients, like the State of Ohio, have been directed to compute jobs as full-time equivalents. Therefore, if two half-time jobs are created or retained, this must be reported as one-full time job.

In separate submissions, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Housing Finance Agency reported data directly to the federal government in compliance with Section 1512(a) of the Recovery Act. Ohio EPA reported $5.9 million in expenditures. Of the estimated 13,144 positions created or retained, 213 full-time positions were reported through Ohio EPA. Ohio Housing Finance Agency reported no disbursements for this period.

“These numbers are preliminary and not final, but even at this early stage, they show that federal stimulus assistance has had a positive impact on Ohio’s economy,” Sabety said. “The State of Ohio has successfully met the first federally required reporting benchmark. By doing so, we are keeping our commitment to provide Ohio taxpayers with an unprecedented level of stimulus spending transparency and accountability.”

About the Section 1512 Reporting Requirements

Ohio’s Office of Budget and Management submitted data to the Federal Recovery Web site from state agencies that have received ARRA funds and are required to report under Section 1512(a) of the Act (except Ohio EPA and Ohio Housing Finance Agency, which filed separately). The operation required the upload of hundreds of data files through a process that involves multiple governmental units and thousands of vendors and sub-recipients. Multiple state agencies worked together to meet the federal reporting deadline.

The 1512 reporting process is part of the Recovery Act that requires data to be collected and provided to the federal government every three months beginning in October 2009. Data required to be reported includes:

* Money received and spent during specified reporting periods
* Direct jobs created or retained (and converted to full-time equivalent positions)
* Projects status
* Location of work
* Award description

This draft data does not reflect indirect jobs (jobs created by suppliers) or induced jobs (jobs created in the community as a result of a federal stimulus project).

Expenditures that are not required to be reported in the 1512 reporting process include: Supplemental Security Income payments; food assistance; unemployment insurance; child support incentives; foster care maintenance; adoption assistance; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Fund; and Medicaid (eFMAP).

The uploaded figures are preliminary and should not be considered final until the verification and validation process concludes at the end of October. Over the next 20 days, state and federal agencies will review and validate state-submitted information.

The final data is expected to be released to the public through the federal Recovery.gov Web site on October 30, 2009. Ohio cities, villages, townships, counties and non-profit organizations that also received direct Recovery Act awards from the federal government must also report 1512 information and financial data independently of the State of Ohio.

For a copy of the data files submitted to FederalReporting.gov, go to http://obm.ohio.gov/MiscPages/ARRAReporting/Default.aspx. This data is currently available in its raw form and accessible through an xml format. In the coming weeks, the data will be finalized and the public will be able to access it other formats.

States have until October 20 to review their submissions and make any necessary data corrections. From October 21 – October 30 the federal government will review the states’ reports and post the final results to the www.recovery.gov on October 30.

If necessary, states will be allowed to make corrections up until the October 30 posting.

All information is considered draft data until the federal government posts the final reports on October 30.

Additional information about Ohio and the Recovery Act is available at www.recovery.ohio.gov.

Source: Ohio Governor