"There are lots of ideas being thrown out, as you can imagine, when that type of money is on the table," Kerri Stewart, the city's deputy chief administrative officer and acting-stimulus czar says.

Stewart is working with the Mayor's sustainability office and city engineers to form a strategy for spending the $8 million. She says plans could include offering rebate incentives for "green" builders and upgrading aging government buildings to more energy effecient standards.

"So there's a framework for a strategic plan," Stewart says. "But to say we have one would not be true."

That strategic plan is critical for local governments to secure federal funding from the Recovery Act. Despite nearly $8 million from the U.S. Energy Department earmarked for Jacksonville, city officials must still apply for the grant and prove to the Feds how the money will be spent and when.

Stewart's office actually takes it a step further before applying for the tens of millions of dollars expected to pay for a wide array of projects.

"Just like the accountability piece of the funding, the question of if we can sustain these programs, this extra personnel, these jobs, in the long run, is a factor in determining whether we go after the money at all," she says.