There was a lot to absorb at last night's town hall meeting on the stimulus. More than a dozen state agency representatives ran down the funding that's coming to the state, and explained some of what's available through competitive grants from Washington.

The room was packed with representatives from local government, nonprofits, engineering firms, building trades unions, and so on, all eager to find out where the money's going. And more than one person told me that they left the presentation dazed by the numbers.

In some cases, state officials were uncertain about the details. For example: officials at the Office of Child and Family Services know the agency is getting an extra $84 million that will be divvied up among local social services districts for child care subsidies. I asked an Office of Child and Family Services representative if she knew whether there would be any restrictions on that funding, such as raising eligibility rates. But the office is waiting on just such details from the feds, she said.

There are certainties in some areas. The state knows what it's getting for highway funding and it knows what it's giving to metropolitan planning organizations. The Rochester region's organization, Genesee Transportation Council, has already decided which projects it'll fund.

The universal in all of this is that agency reps were directing people to websites for details on the stimulus. So if you want to get a handle on it all, looks like this site is the place to start.