At last week’s Australian Council of Local Government meeting in Canberra, which was attended by Inverell mayor Barry Johnston, the Federal Government announced more than $200 million funding for projects to be selected by local councils.

The funding follows the first round in December when councils were handed out thousands of dollars to complete works.

Since then Cr Johnston said the council has completed several projects that had been waiting to be funded, included laying synthetic surface at sporting fields and installing shade cover over children’s playgrounds.

As well as getting a backlog of works completed, the funding is aimed at creating jobs during the current global recession.

But Cr Johnston told The Inverell Times yesterday that many councils were not taking advantage of the funding.

He said Inverell Shire had a list of items waiting to be funded that could now go ahead.

Yet he said while talking to representatives from other councils, many said they had struggled to spend the first lot of stimulus funding from late last year.

That funding had to be spent by councils by the end of the financial year - today.

That first round of funding had to be spent before councils could receive the second round.

There has been no annoucnement from council about which projects will go ahead with the funding from this latest stimulus package.