INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana contractors are weatherizing homes with federal stimulus money at a much slower rate than expected, and the state official in charge of the program said some might lose a portion of their grant money.
Indiana set a goal of weatherizing 6,000 homes by the end of May so it receives the remaining $70 million from a $132 million allotment of federal stimulus funds. However, only 2,070 homes had been weatherized by the end of February, The Indianapolis Star reported Sunday.
Paul Krievins, the state's weatherization program manager, said the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority plans to take back grant money from companies and agencies that have fallen short of expectations.
"We are clawing back funding from those grantees that really were poor performers," Krievens said.
He did not identify which groups might lose funds, but said he is looking at those who have met less than 15 percent of their goals.
Of the initial $55 million the state awarded, $20.7 million went to the Indiana Builders Association. The builders association was supposed to have completed 1,668 homes by the end of February but had done only 265, for a completion rate just shy of 16 percent.
Rick Wajda, the builders association chief executive officer, said his group is not among those the state has told they could lose funding.
Wajda said the group had trouble finding enough people to do weatherization work during winter months, when many contractors were busy on furnace repairs.
The weatherization money pays for energy-efficiency upgrades such as installing insulation, sealing air leaks and replacing outdated furnaces.
The state cannot tap into the second round of the federal funding until it completes work on at least 6,000 homes. The additional money is earmarked for contracts through the rest of this year and 2011. The state's overall goal is to weatherize 19,700 homes by early 2012.
Any money unspent by March 2012 must be returned to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Critics said Indiana hurt itself by awarding contracts to some groups with little or no experience in government-funded weatherization programs, such as the builders association.
Robert Schmidt, executive director of ACTION Inc. of Delaware and Grant counties, said the state "is in some serious trouble."
"This project was flawed from the very beginning," he said. "The governor's staff saw fit to give the majority of these funds to non-community action agencies in the state that had no weatherization experience."
IHCDA Executive Director Sherry Siewert said the state needed to reach beyond the community action agencies to spend the influx of cash.
"I am fully confident we will reach that (May) deadline, and long before then," Siewert said. "We will not be giving any money back."
Siewert said the pace has picked up in recent weeks with better weather making it easier for contractors to work.
Schmidt said the state is calling him daily asking his agency, which has one of the best track records in the state, to do more. ACTION had completed work on 51 homes at the end of February, exceeding its target of 36.
Todd Lare, executive director of the South Central Community Action Agency, said he's also been asked by the state to do more. His agency has completed work on 92 homes, exceeding its goal of 72.
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State News
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