The federal government put nine Connecticut recipients of stimulus money on the naughty list because they did not report on $4.4 million by the April deadline, according to recovery.gov.
The $787 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly known as the stimulus bill, passed in February 2009. Since then the federal government set up recovery.gov to monitor spending of the money.
However, the website relies on recipients of the money to track how much they have received, how much has been spent and how many jobs have been created.
Federal agencies have awarded stimulus money to 927 Connecticut recipients, totaling $1.87 billion. Nine of those recipients failed to report in a timely manner about 11 awards, totaling $4.4 million.
Reports from the second quarter of 2010 are due to be posted on recovery.gov on July 30.
Watchdog reporter Kevin Lee totaled the unreported grants from the recovery.gov list and found nearly $1.2 billion in federal stimulus money isn’t accounted for nationwide.
According to Edward Pound, a spokesman for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board which runs recovery.gov, there aren’t any consequences for not reporting.
“(Recipients) are required to comply with the law,” Pound told watchdog.org. “But there are no direct penalties if they don’t report. That’s why we ask reporters and the general public to use our website and check on the information.”
Milford-based Gas Equipment Engineering Corporation received the largest grant of the non-reporters. The company received $1.2 million from the Department of Energy.
Since GEECO has not filed any reports, no additional information is available at recovery.gov. GEECO did not return multiple calls for comment.
The state Department of Transportation received $975,000 for projects in Westport, including work on the Wilbur Cross Highway, Long Lots Road and the Newtown Turnpike. DOT officials were unaware the project was on the list.
The Town of Woodstock received a $786,000 loan and a $614,000 grant for a sewer project, according to First Selectman Allan Walker Jr.
“We’ve had difficulties with the computer,” Walker said. “They actually have the reports now.”
The New Britain Police Department received $354,563 from the Department of Justice.
“You don’t want to be late,” said Chief William Gagliardi. “We’re embarrassed by it.”
Gagliardi said the reports are filed now, but did not meet the deadline because of the detail required and the short window of time to prepare the reports.
“That’s all it is and I think it was late by a day,” Gagliardi said.
According to recovery.gov, Inframat received $150,000 from the National Science Foundation to develop films for more efficient solar energy conversion.
Bob Lee, president of Manchester-based Inframat declined to comment.
“I’m sorry I can’t discuss that right now,” he said.
Carol Kessel, associate comptroller at Trinity College, said the school received a $117,000 National Science Foundation grant to purchase equipment. Kessel said the college has not reported on the grant because it is a new award.
Sprague First Selectman Catherine Osten said her town received two grants, $90,700 for work on the La Croix Bridge and $90,000 for renovations to the Grist Mill. Osten said a personnel change interfered with the reporting process when the town’s grant writer took a new job and a month passed before a new person took over.
“We attempted to report,” she said.
The East Haven Police Department received $34,542 from the Department of Justice. The mayor’s office had not returned calls for comment at the time of publication.
Mary Anne Cox, spokesman for the Connecticut Community Colleges, said the colleges are on the list because of a missed step in the reporting process.
“They neglected in their last report to hit a button,” Cox said. “They have filed a corrected report. They tried to file an amended report but they can’t do that.”
“I’m afraid to say it’s primarily a technology glitch,” she said.