When the U.S. economy went into a downward spiral last year, RMF Engineering at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County Research and Technology Park had to go through a round of layoffs.

This year, thanks to nearly $1 million in income from the federal stimulus act, RMF isn't adding jobs, but it's not losing any, either, said Robert Smith, a vice president with the company.

RMF Engineering is one of 148 businesses or agencies in Baltimore County that have been awarded $129 million in federal stimulus money from contracts, grants or loans. With that money, they've created or saved 108 jobs.

That's an average of $1.2 million per job -- much more than federal government's goal of spending $92,000 per job in the federal stimulus plan.

That sort of statistic -- part of the official data collected from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 -- has officials here and across the country debating whether the government is spending money wisely.

Economists appear split on the effectiveness of the stimulus package, with some saying spending so much per job is out of line while others argue that success can't be measured merely by the number of jobs created.

Business owners who've received the funding say the money is a boon.

At BKM Engineering in Towson, President Jim Barrett said the $123,000 in stimulus contracts his company received for work on the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center isn't enough to create any new jobs.

"You don't want to hire people just to do a specific job and then, when the work is over, have to lay them off," he said. "When we add people, we want them to be here for a while. Our average employee has been here for 15 years."

Still, he said his 40-employee agency is "thankful for every dollar" it receives in stimulus funds.

"It's a tough economy," he said.

Other county businesses receiving federal stimulus money were, for instance, EA Engineering, in Hunt Valley, which received $509,000 in contracts; nearby Century Engineering Inc., which received $92,000; and Tetra Tech Inc., in Owings Mills, which received $20,000.

In Baltimore City, 21 businesses have received $9.1 million in government contracts and created or saved 60 jobs.

Those businesses include Johns Hopkins University, which received $1 million for cancer treatment; Colimore Thoemke Architects Inc., a downtown firm that received $500,000 for design work on a federal emergency services building in Gaithersburg; and BGE, which received $2.5 million for work at the Naval Academy, including replacement of athletic field light fixtures.

But some critics say the money could be used more wisely.

Input, a Reston, Va., firm that analyzes government spending and contracts, said 40 percent of recipients are reporting that no jobs were created yet, and that jobs are being created at a much slower pace than anticipated.

"The effectiveness of the stimulus varies in different places around the country," said Deniece Peterson, principal analyst tracking stimulus funds for Input.

"The federal government says it wants to spend $92,000 per job," Peterson said. "But in some areas they're spending $500,000 per job. That's spending half a million dollars for one job," he said.

In Maryland, where the federal government has awarded $3.2 billion to 2,288 businesses or agencies, the package has created or saved 6,774 jobs. That breaks down to $470,000 spent per job.

"That's a lot further behind than the administration would like to see," Peterson said.

'Multiplier effect'?

Robert Dye, senior economist for Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank, said the stimulus should not be judged simply by the number of jobs created.

"There's a multiplier effect," he said. "Those people who get jobs in turn go to the grocery store, and they buy cars, and those actions create demand for other jobs down the road.

"There will be a multiplier effect that's not quantifiable," he said.

Gov. Martin O'Malley estimated last week that federal stimulus money to the state government directly created or preserved 4,464 jobs, including 1,809 jobs in the state's schools. He also estimated that more than 9,000 private-sector jobs were created indirectly by the state government's public-sector spending.

Likewise, the Baltimore County government says it's received $54.2 million in stimulus money. Some of that spending will trickle to businesses as well, and could have an impact that also benefits local jobs.

"We definitely think it's going to be a definite benefit for stimulating the local economy," said Baltimore County spokeswoman Ellen Kobler.

She said thecounty is devoting $41.7 million of stimulus funds to special education funding, $8.1 million to road resurfacing and $1.9 million to adult job training, among other projects.

"We were very shovel-ready," she said. "We were in a positive situation where we could begin using this money immediately."

For more details, or to track the federal stimulus spending, go to www.recovery.gov.

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