Florida ? A South Florida county that rode high through the housing boom earlier this decade, then crashed hard when the foreclosure crisis struck, declared a state of economic emergency on Tuesday.

St. Lucie County’s action authorizes $25 million to $30 million for a slate of new construction projects — with the condition they use largely local labor and supplies — in hopes of jump-starting a sorely distressed local economy.

However, the county commission toed a careful line, insisting the government itself was financially healthy while expressing dire need.

Officials are trying to throw a lifeline to the 25 percent to 40 percent of unemployed workers in sectors of the formerly lucrative construction industry.