UPPER KEYS -- All $25.4 million in wastewater federal stimulus money appropriated to the Keys this year is scheduled to be spent by the first of week of July, said Shelly Trulock, Keys water quality improvement program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Trulock's comments last week came days after the lobbyist and the chief financial officer for the Key Largo Wastewater Treatment District continued to voice concerns that Islamorada is holding up the expenditure of the money, and in so doing is hurting the Keys' chances of getting another hefty federal appropriation next year.

Islamorada, said Key Largo Financial Officer Marty Waits at a March 2 district board meeting, will "be stringing it out through September."

"We have to say we've spent our money and we are ready to spend more on worthy projects," added district lobbyist Fred Hicks. "It's not fair but there it is. It will be very difficult with us getting more."

Hicks said questions remain as to what the Corps would define as having "spent" the money.

The stimulus funds, which must be spent by the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30, were divided evenly between Key West, Marathon, Key Largo and Islamorada. But the Corps and local governments want it to be spent sooner in order to bolster the case for a similar appropriation, or an even larger one, in the next fiscal year.

Marathon and Key Largo, where sewer construction is the most active at the moment, plan to have their funds invoiced by late March and early April, respectively, Trulock said. Key West will spend its full appropriation as well by July.

However, in Islamorada, where the sewer program is well behind other areas of the Keys, there aren't enough shovel-ready projects to spend the full $6.1 million in stimulus funds this year.

Still, Trulock said there's no truth to the assertion that the village's difficulties are jeopardizing future funding. Village officials e-mailed her on Feb. 8 to tell her Islamorada was not going to be able to spend $5 million of its 2010 appropriation, she said. So that money instead will go to Marathon and Key Largo. In exchange, the village will be first in line for funding next year.

"We expect to fully invoice for $25 million by the first week of July," Trulock said. "They were able to keep the interest of the whole program at heart."

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