After five months of waiting, Monroe County can now spend its $3 million of child care stimulus funds. County officials have had access to the money since May, but couldn't spend it because the federal government hadn't issued required reporting guidelines - the way government agencies explain how the money is spent. | The guidelines finally came out on September 25, and the state issued its own guidelines shortly afterward, so the counties can now spend the money. | "It's really good that we got these dollars and we need to spend them," says Carolyn Lee-Davis, an analyst with the Children's Agenda, a local child advocacy organization. | Counties can spend the money in several ways. For example, they can use it to pay salaries or to prevent child-care program cuts. | Lee-Davis says that Monroe County will likely use the money to sustain the current eligibility level. | County officials restored the eligibility for child-care subsidies to 165 percent of poverty level in May, after receiving an increase in state child-care grant funds. The year prior, county officials decreased eligibility because of state funding cuts and more than 900 children lost their subsidies.