Local Towns Get First $616,834 Stimulus Commitment

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Perry County government and the cities of Du Quoin and Pinckneyville are now listed in President Barack Obama's infrastructure stimulus package as recipients of a total of $616,834 for transportation use.

The stimulus funding is divided into categories like transportation and public works, and the transportation stipends are now being posted by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Perry County is schedule to receive $249,928; Du Quoin is scheduled to receive $201,632 and Pinckneyville is scheduled to receive $165,274.

The per capita stipends are said to be based on population.

Du Quoin City Clerk Blaine Bastien said J.T. Blankinship engineer Ted Beggs has begun researching intended use for the funds and believes the funds have to be used for street construction or repaving.

This is the only allocation that has been announced which does not require an application process.

The stimulus package can be tracked on Illinois' portion of the stimulus package Web site:

recovery.illinois.gov