Millions of dollars are headed to Utah cities as part of President Barack Obama's federal stimulus program, but local officials say requirements for the public funds are vague, confusing and constantly changing.

Municipalities from Utah's capital to the likes of Lehi, Midvale and Murray are scrambling to meet deadlines in early June and are crossing their fingers, hoping that planned projects meet final guidelines.

The latest round of announced stimulus funding revolves around energy efficiency and low-income neighborhoods.

The low-income money is distributed through the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant Program. The latest round of CDBG funds comes on the heels of funds allocated earlier this year.

Some cities across Utah are planning to use the new CDBG money to redo streets in rundown areas.

For example, Sandy plans to use its allocation of $106,502 to make repairs in the city's historic district, said city spokeswoman Trina Duerkson.

Salt Lake City plans to fix roads with its $1.1 million in CDBG funds. However, the repairs were already funded, according to Mayor Ralph Becker's plan. Those funds will now be diverted to improvements in west-side parks.

In contrast, West Jordan hopes to use the federal money to make sidewalks in residential areas wheelchair accessible.

But the new funds come with a catch — cities have been allocated a certain amount of money based on population, but the cities will only get those funds if their proposed projects are approved.

"Some of these programs have a lot of restrictions, so it's not like they just give you a blank check," said Cottonwood Heights city manager Diane Stillman.

But the city manager said her city plans to keep applying until it gets the money it was appropriated.

Another major source of money for Utah municipalities comes by way of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Grants. Several cities hope to replace costly traffic signal lights with LEDs, perform energy audits of city-owned buildings and redraft city ordinances into environment-friendly code.

Criteria for allocation of the energy money include the likelihood of job creation, the amount of energy saved, whether renewable capacity is installed, the amount of greenhouse gas reduction and whether funds can be leveraged so more "green" improvements can be made in the future, said West Jordan stimulus coordinator Chuck Tarver.