The I-JOBS program has put about 7,000 people to work fixing roads and improving state facilities like prisons, according to officials in Gov. Chet Culver's administration.
''We are really investing in our future,'' Jim Flansburg, the communications director for Culver, said Thursday in Fort Dodge.
Flansburg and Richard Oshlo, the director of the state Department of Management, visited Fort Dodge Thursday to explain the $870 million program. It was proposed by Culver as a way to repair damages from the 2008 floods and create what Flansburg called ''short-term good-paying jobs to get us through the recession.''
I-JOBS has been criticized by Republicans as a failed program that created relatively few jobs while saddling the state with debt. During a visit to Fort Dodge last week, former Gov. Terry Branstad, who's running for his old job, said he would never have started something like I-JOBS.
''I think it was a terrible mistake,'' Branstad said at the time.
Flansburg said he believes critics of the program don't really understand it.
''If they would sit down and read it, they'd understand it and appreciate it,'' he said.
Where the money comes from
Under the I-JOBS program, the state government borrows money, spends it on infrastructure projects and pays off the debt with revenue from casinos.
''We thought this was the best way to get the biggest bang for the buck,'' Oshlo said.
Culver proposed borrowing $800 million. The final package, approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor, totals $870 million.
That debt, which has an interest rate of 4.3 percent, will be paid off over 23 years with the state's cut of money from the gambling industry, according to Oshlo.
He said paying off the debt will cost up to $55 million a year. He added that he's confident there will always be enough money from gambling to make the payments.
''We don't foresee, nor do any analysts foresee, that we will experience a precipitous drop in gaming revenue,'' Oshlo said.
Flansburg said that 47 percent of that gaming money comes from residents of other states who visit Iowa's casinos.
What the money is used for
The Webster County Law Enforcement Center, 702 First Ave. S., will be renovated with the aid of a $1.91 million I-JOBS grant. That $3.8 million project, which may start later this year, received the largest I-JOBS grant awarded so far in the region.
Oshlo said about $700 million of the money has been committed to projects throughout the state. He said that the I-JOBS money has been used as matching funds to help the state and local governments secure an additional $600 million from federal and private sources.
Every county and city will receive some I-JOBS money for road work. Webster County, for instance, will receive $316,770.
Oshlo said $65 million will be spent on bridge repairs. He said the rest of the money will be spent at community colleges, the community-based corrections centers, regents universities, the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women in Mitchellville, the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown, and in new ''railports'' intended to serve industries. He added that some of the money will be spent to provide broadband Internet service throughout the state.
Work on all the various I-JOBS projects has created 7,000 jobs so far, according to Oshlo. He said that figure only includes people working at job sites. It doesn't include jobs that may have been created at companies that provide construction materials or other supplies needed to complete an I-JOBS project.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net