It's an $8.5 million hot potato.

Federal lawmakers secured $8.5 million in earmarks in 2005 and 2006 for a north-south connector between Archer and Newberry roads.

But officials from the city of Gainesville and Alachua County [Florida] say they didn't seek the money and had at least a half-dozen transportation projects that were higher priorities.

Now city and county commissioners will meet at 3 p.m. today as the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization to select one of four routes for the road to take.

Three of the routes would cut through property owned by developer Clark Butler, who has proposed expanding the Butler Plaza shopping center in that area.

The federal money would only pay for planning, engineering and design of the road. And local officials say choosing a route could force the road ahead of higher-priority projects and tie up about $70 million in additional money needed to build the north-south connector.

"Neither the County Commission nor the City Commission requested the funds," said County Commissioner Mike Byerly.

Byerly said he is critical of a grant that "came out of nowhere, unrequested."

U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, said she was responsible for securing most of the funding. A member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, she said that the effort stemmed from congestion problems, but also developer Butler's support for the road.

"It would be because he asked for it, but because it was needed, too," she said.

But Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan said the road was never a priority with local officials. She said local officials took the money "to be gracious" when presented with millions in federal funds.

"You don't look a gift horse in the mouth," she said.

The project would alleviate congestion on Interstate 75, Archer Road, Newberry Road and SW 34th Street by building a connection road between Archer Road near Butler Plaza and Newberry Road near The Oaks Mall.

Neither Clark Butler nor his daughter Deborah Butler, who together run Butler Enterprises, could be reached for comment. Ron Carpenter, an attorney representing the Butlers, declined comment.

Plans submitted in December propose a 1.3-million-square-foot expansion north of Butler Plaza.

Butler, his attorney and his engineer have spoken out in favor of the road project at several city and county meetings related to selection of a route.

In a March 11 meeting, Butler told Alachua County commissioners that U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., had called three weeks before and requested a meeting on the project.

"I said we need some more money to go with the money he appropriated," Butler said.

He added: "I think it's just about time we recognize our opportunity and some of you call him and meet with him."

A spokesman for Nelson said that none of the current federal earmarks originated from his office. He did confirm that Nelson met with Butler.

Byerly said that the comments from Butler at the County Commission meeting "shed a lot of light on some of the assumptions many of us made at the time."

The funding for the road came from four separate earmarks, or money that lawmakers secure for local projects through one-sentence descriptions attached to bills.

Brown, D-Jacksonville, said she helped secure about $2.4 million of the funding in 2005 and $3 million in 2006. While she said Butler's support played a factor, she said the project was more about reducing the amount of congestion and accidents. "It's not about a developer, it's about public safety," she said.

U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, said in a statement that he had the support of local officials in securing $1.6 million of the money.

He cited a statement written by Hanrahan and the city of Gainesville's 2009 federal agenda.

"The City of Gainesville has long supported this project to address traffic congestion in Florida," he said in the statement.

Hanrahan said she likely wrote the statement in a thank-you note after the money was allocated and the 2009 agenda included support for the project only in its draft form.

She said staff put the item into the agenda before the City Commission's approval and she expressed to Stearns personally that the project was not a priority.

Neither Brown, Nelson, Stearns nor U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., take credit for the remaining $1.5 million in funding.

In 2005 Butler gave $3,700 to Nelson's campaign, and in 2007 he donated another $1,000. Deborah Butler, who is vice president of Butler Enterprises, gave $4,000 to the campaign.

Clark Butler donated $4,200 to Stearns' campaign between 2005 and 2006. Between 2004 and 2007, he donated $12,600 to Brown's campaigns.

Brown said she was not influenced by the donations and has been open about the earmarks she supported.

"I have never put a project in at one or two o'clock in the morning," she said.

Federal earmarks have faced increasing scrutiny following an onslaught of scandals in 2006. Reform in 2007 now requires officials to attach their names to the earmarks, making the sources of funding possible to track.

Jordan Green, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation, said his department tried unsuccessfully to track down the sponsors of all four earmarks that totaled $8.5 million.

"I remember we did some research to try to figure out what they were wanting us to do with this money," he said. "We couldn't figure out what in the world they were wanting us to do."

Approximately $500,000 of the $8.5 million has been spent on a study of the potential road-corridors and city and county officials are deciding how to go forward with the project.

Although at least one of the earmarks specified a four-lane connector road, Green said that the county met the spirit of the bill by studying a four-lane road and could go forward with a two-lane road and keep the earmark money.

Marlie Sanderson, director of transportation planning for the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council, said if local officials approve moving forward with the project by selecting a route, the SW 62nd Boulevard Project will effectively be adopted as a priority.

But Sanderson said it's not a case of the federal government setting the agenda for local officials.

"They still have to vote for it," Sanderson said.