Los Alamos County is among the major beneficiaries of federal stimulus spending, ranking 13th in the nation for the amount per person.

The federal government is slated to provide more than $306 million, an amount that works out to $16,871 for each of the county's 18,150 residents.

The main explanation for such a tiny county getting such a load of cash can be summed up in four words: Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The lab will gobble up much of that spending, at least $277.7 million. Stimulus money for the lab will go largely to environmental cleanup and renewable-energy research.

If it wasn't for the lab, the spending in the Northern New Mexico county would mirror that of many others in the nation, with money going to transportation and infrastructure projects, entitlement programs and public safety grants.

Los Alamos, the state's smallest and by many measures richest county, will get $218,831 for increased benefits to the unemployed, and $491 for the Women, Infants and Children program.

The county also will get $4.6 million for a low-flow turbine generator for a hydroelectric plant at Abiquiú.

Much of the stimulus money will end up in people's pockets through paychecks from jobs created by the spending.

Because a sizable portion of the work force doesn't live in Los Alamos, Kevin Holsapple, executive director of the local Chamber of Commerce, said the stimulus' effect reaches beyond the hilltop city.

"It's not just about Los Alamos County ... it's regional in terms of the dollars and where it goes," he said. "A lot of the dollars went to Española and Santa Fe in the form of wages."

Holsapple said it's difficult to literally see the effect the stimulus is having on the local economy, but that businesses overall seem to be doing all right. One thing that is visible, he said, is ongoing road construction work, including that on Diamond Drive. The stimulus money provided almost $2 million for work on that road.

Unlike most other towns across the country, Los Alamos turned down some stimulus money that could have come to the area.

Los Alamos police Captain Randy Foster said the Police Department declined a $24,000 crime-fighting grant because of the cost of managing the grant.

"They take years of people's time," he said of such grants. "It might have actually put us backward" monetarily.

Topping the national list for spending per capita is Albany County, N.Y., where allocations equal $44,688 for each of the 298,130 residents. At the very bottom of the list are the 23,844 residents of Fairfax County, Va, who will share in $60,640, or about $2.50 each.

Somewhere in the middle are other New Mexico counties. Union County, in the state's northeastern corner, is the second highest in New Mexico, ranking 34th nationally.

One of the big projects there is an upgrade of school buildings worth $434,600 and improvements to the Union County courthouse equaling $500,000.

But there are smaller fixes as well.

Restrooms in the "comfort center" at the Capulin Volcano National Monument recently got a new roof, said Kimberly Struthers, acting superintendent and Natural Resources Program manager.

"It was rotting through and causing some structural damage from being so old," she said.

The new roof, made out of metal instead of asphalt, is already in place, and is something that wouldn't have happened — or wouldn't have happened for a long while anyway — without the stimulus money, Struthers said.

Union County will also get almost $4 million to fix up U.S. 64 and $69,808 for supplies to reduce methamphetamine use.

Santa Fe County ranked 51st in the nation, getting $6,493 for each of the 143,937 residents. Among the biggest ticket items for the county are an $8 million tax credit exchange program for the Village Sage housing project near Capitol High School and $2 million for the Head Start program.

Overall, New Mexico is expected to receive more than $3 billion from the federal program.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at www.greenchilechatter.com.

Stimulus winners

Top three New Mexico county recipients of stimulus spending, per capita

Los Alamos County

Rank in the nation per capita: 13th highest

Total stimulus money: $306,205,018

Population: 18,150

Per capita spending $16,871



Union County

Rank in the nation: 34th

Total stimulus money: $31,475,427

Population: 3,777

Per capita spending: $8,333



Guadalupe County

Rank in the nation: 46th

Total stimulus money: $29,158,439

Population: 4,346

Per capita spending: $6,709


Source: Recovery.gov, compiled by ProPublica.org. Population estimates based on 2008 information.