Stimulus dollars meant to help Salt Lake County survive the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression are showing up in shelters for the homeless, detox centers for recovering alcoholics and treatment programs for drug addicts.

They are widening streets, paying for energy retrofits and shoring up banks along the Jordan River.

Utah's most populous county has snatched more than $14 million through the federal stimulus to fund law enforcement, social services and environmental initiatives that its cash-strapped coffers couldn't afford otherwise.

Ann Ober, the county's stimulus coordinator, called the federal funding a "lifesaver" that has kept social services from slipping during the recession.

"These funds," she said, "have been absolutely necessary for us to continue paying for programming."

The stimulus also has filled holes that could be characterized as county wants rather than needs -- such as an 800-kilowatt solar array that would rank among the largest photovoltaic installations in Utah.

What remains unclear is how many jobs those dollars have created countywide.

The stimulus is paying for four drivers and a program coordinator at the Volunteers of America detox center in Salt Lake City. There, the county has launched a jail-diversion program that gives alcoholics a chance to sober up without spending time in a cell. Consequently, the center treated about 400 people between July and December who normally would have been booked into the county lockup.

"We are trying to demonstrate that it is cost effective for our community to divert people from jail into treatments systems," said Kathy Bray, president and chief executive officer of Utah's Volunteers of America.

The stimulus also is paying for a domestic-violence therapist and an after-school program staffer. It is shouldering almost $3 million in Medicaid-related mental health and substance-abuse costs. It is paving the way for a wider 3900 South.

While the stimulus is plugging gaps, County Councilman David Wilde, a Republican, says national leaders could have made better decisions on how to spend the money.

"My preference," he said, "would be to take however much has not been spent and turn it back to the federal government to keep the deficit under control."

His Democratic colleague, Councilman Jim Bradley, argues the stimulus has done what it was supposed to do: create jobs -- whether installing solar panels or stabilizing stream banks.

jstettler@sltrib.com