Cowlitz County got such a good bid on its West Side Highway repair project that it had to refund all $225,000 in federal stimulus money for the work.

County officials said it was “frustrating” to see the money leave the county, especially because they had other projects that could use the money. But, officials said, they had no choice but to return the money to the state for redistribution. The state handles and awards this batch of federal stimulus dollars.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Public Works Director Kent Cash said Tuesday as he asked county commissioners to approve returning the funds.

“We could certainly use that money,” added assistant director Ryan Lopossa on Wednesday.

The county received the $225,000 for work on West Side Highway that was estimated to cost $1.5 million. The project raised a half-mile stretch of the highway near Four Corners and the high school to reduce its risk of flooding.

Bids have been running lower than usual this year because of the struggling economy and competitive construction climate. West Side Highway bids came in significantly under the estimate — just under $1 million.

Because other grant money covered the project, the county had to return the federal stimulus dollars.

“We got too good a deal,” Lopossa said.

The West Side Highway project still got done, and the county didn’t have to pay any costs out of pocket.

Faced with having to refund the stimulus money, Lopossa first tried to get state officials to approve resurfacing more of the West Side Highway. He also asked that the money be applied to the Coal Creek Road widening project which also qualified for stimulus money, but not enough to cover all the costs.

Each time the state said no.

The state will dole out all returned stimulus money to other “second tier” projects, but Cash said it’s unlikely any Cowlitz County projects will qualify. It’s expected that projects in larger urban centers will get the money, Cash told the commissioners.

“The good news is some other city or county in the state will get the money for their projects, it just won’t be ours,” Lopossa said.