More Stimulus Money Coming to Georgia

Millions in additional stimulus dollars are heading to Georgia. The Department of defense received close to 6-billion dollars to fund construction projects here at homes as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Georgia's military bases will share in close to 130-million dollars of that money.

The money is separate from the stimulus funds the state is getting. Bert Brantley is with Governor Sonny Perdue's office. He says the money will flow directly to federal installations.

"Those funds will obviously be spent in the economy. They will improve federal buildings. They will go to improving the way the efficiency of some of those buildings, some energy projects, and be spent on defense projects as well, which is good for our economy."

Many of the projects are focused on making the military more energy independent. DOD construction planned in Georgia includes a 10-million dollar barracks renovation at Ft. Benning, 14-million for a new utility building at Ft. Gordon, and a 4-million dollar runway at Robins Air Force Base.

Ft. Gordon to get upgrades

Officials at Fort Gordon in Augusta say they are working to repair problems with leaky plumbing and mold at the barracks there. Four thousand trainees live at the 40-year old facility. A spokesperson for Fort Gordon say the problems are similar to those at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Complaints at Fort Bragg prompted the Army to reshuffle $250 million toward emergency repairs at eight posts. Fort Gordon will receive $49 million. Six point two million has also been slated for heating and air conditioning upgrades at Fort Stewart.