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Columbia aims for stimulus money |
In the midst of a $4.3 million budget shortfall, Columbia officials have hired a professional grant writer for $55 an hour as part of the newly created “office of the stimulus.”Interim city manager Steve Gantt has authorized Teresa Wilson Florence, the city’s “stimulus czar,” to hire another grant writer and pay USC up to $10,000 for help in tracking grants as part of the federal government’s $787 billion stimulus package.This comes as the city has imposed a hiring freeze and department heads are being asked to cut their budgets.“We’re just going to have to cut some other things out,” Gantt said to explain how he would pay for the stimulus office.Gantt has been trying to cobble together enough money to keep the stimulus office running until at least the end of the budget year, largely in response to demands from City Council members.
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