Articles

Floridians are told that stimulus site is coming

by Doug Sword

Posted on March 11, 2009 – Herald Tribune

Florida is trailing 29 other states that have already started upfederally required Web sites to inform the public about stimulusspending.

Florida's Web site will be up within "a couple of days," said DonWinstead, special adviser to Gov. Charlie Crist for the implementing ofthe federal stimulus program.

Although the $789 billion federalstimulus bill was signed into law last month, details are stillsketchy. For instance, the federal Web site tells visitors: "You aren'table to track funds yet because we have not yet started receivinginformation from Federal agencies on how they are going to allocate themoney. It takes a little bit of time for them to make sure your moneyis going to be spent wisely."

Initially, Florida's site will bedesigned to answer general questions about the stimulus plan, Winsteadsaid. As Florida receives specific grants, those will appear on thesite, as well.

As money starts rolling in, there is a requirementfor each state to provide detailed reporting on its site regarding allstimulus funds received. The state must also provide information onwhat it is doing to make sure all the dollars are accounted for,Winstead said.

Warning the public about scams involving stimulusmoney is one of the issues that some of the state sites are alreadydealing with.

In Florida, that was done with a news releaseTuesday that noted a number of Internet scams have surfaced claiming tooffer stimulus checks and asking for bank account numbers and personalinformation.

The information is being used to steal money frombank accounts or steal identities, according to Florida's Division ofConsumer Services.

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