TARMIYAH, Iraq — Thursday was a good day to work around Tarmiyah.

The weather was warm but not oppressive. The sun shone. And at schools across the city, local laborers mixed cement, stacked beams and leveled areas with bulldozers.

Work is booming around Tarmiyah these days — and for good reason. Leaders have invested a hefty $47.4 million into the area, north of Baghdad, in the form of crucial building and infrastructure projects. But more remarkable than the total is the source of the money. About 80 cents of every dollar spent on the area is coming from a Shiite-dominated Iraqi government that has often been accused of neglecting Sunni communities like Tarmiyah.

Both American and Iraqi leaders have historically been reluctant to inject money into a community that was once an al-Qaida stronghold. When Americans initially tried to help Tarmiyah, much of the money made its way through the system to insurgents, said Capt. Christopher Loftis, the commander of Company A, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment. Such a situation was hard to avoid when most of the local contractors either sympathized with the insurgents or were too afraid to defy them.

In one particularly egregious example, insurgents placed bombs in the foundation of a 400-student school. The bombs had been planted at the doorway of most classrooms while the cement was still wet. Soldiers found the bombs before insurgents could detonate them, but they had to drill through cement to remove each bomb they discovered. The city is only now repairing the damage to the school.

Leaders began to see a correlation between the money they spent and violence around the city and turned off the tap until the situation improved.

"Baghdad had basically written off everything north," said 1st Lt. Erik Peterson, an infantry officer who became Company A’s project manager.

The moment for change came a few months after 1/14 arrived in the area. In March, Peterson set to work applying for funds under a then-new program designed to smooth out difficulties getting Iraqi money to Iraqi communities.

The program, called iCERP, uses American soldiers to apply for money and monitor the progress of projects rather than make local leaders wade through the government’s Byzantine budget process. Soldiers have so far put about $20.2 million worth of Iraqi money to work.

The Iraqi government eventually embarked on its own projects, which Peterson said showed its own maturing abilities. The government doesn’t allow Tarmiyah contractors to take on projects because of its past experiences. Baghad contractors once skimmed money off the top of the contracts and subcontracted them to Tarmiyah managers. They never visited the city and left local contractors with too little money to complete their projects adequately.

That’s changed, though. Tarmiyah contractors still cannot receive many types of projects. But Baghdad contractors are no longer afraid to visit the city, so they no longer pass the projects on to subcontractors.

The government now plans to direct 12.1 billion Iraqi dinars, just over $10 million, toward roads and bridges. It also will spend 2 billion Iraqi dinars, about $1.7 million, on water projects. In all, the Iraqi government expects to spend about $37.8 million around Tarmiyah, while the Americans plan on directing about $9.6 million into the community.

Tarmiyah residents don’t necessarily credit the Iraqi government for all of this, though. Because American soldiers shepherd many of the projects along, they still often see the United States as their benefactor.

Iraqi leaders also depend on experts like Peterson to guide them through the intricacies of the country’s own budget process — a process designed more to stifle corruption than expedite local improvements.

"Whenever they see this uniform, they think the Americans are in complete control," Peterson said.

Yet the spending has still had an undeniable effect on the once war-torn communities. Children can attend school, and markets are open again. Where a few scattered merchants once stocked only the essentials, the city now has specialty stores and businesses that compete with one another, Loftis said. Instead of complaining about security, local leaders complain that they need a bypass to avoid all the traffic in Tarmiyah.

The government’s projects are also among the most visible. People pay particular attention to roads and water projects.

They also see that Baghdad officials feel comfortable travelling to inspect projects around Tarmiyah, a trip they previously avoided completely. The city has seen visits from the governor, the provincial council and various ministry officials.

"There’s a deep-seated distrust of Baghdad because of historical complaints," Peterson said. "I think to a large degree, we’ve overcome that distrust."

Tarmiyah bustles with projects as funds come in

Here is a look at who is paying for completed, ongoing andupcoming projects around Tarmiyah:

- Iraqi government: About $17.6 million (37 percent)

- U.S.-managed Iraqi money: About $20.2 million (43 percent)

- American money: About $9.6 million (20 percent)

Total: About $47.4 million

-Source: U.S. Army