The U.S. Homeland Security Department is cutting its grants to Maryland by almost $15 million, or 38 percent, and Baltimore City and surrounding counties will lose $1.7 million, about 15 percent.
The grants to help states and cities cope with terrorist attacks were cut even more severely for Washington and New York, the two cities that were actually attacked on Sept. 11.
Maryland officials were not surprised by the reductions. “We were expecting less money this year just based on the federal appropriation,” said James Pettit, spokesman for the governor?s Office of Homeland Security. Congress had cut funding for the grants by 27 percent, from $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2005 to $1.67 billion this year. About half the money is allocated to urban areas.
Mayor Martin O?Malley heads the Homeland Security Task Force for the U.S. mayors, and has been a persistent critic of the Bush administration?s cuts to funding of counterterrorism activities by cities. In addition to cuts across the board to other programs, such as police aid, “this is another one that puts additional stress on your local government,” said City Hall spokesman Raquel Guillory.
The city will have to provide a detailed plan to DHS in 60 days, but it expects to spend the money on the high-priority items identified in its grant application, Guillory said. These include decontamination equipment, such as protective gear,used after chemical or biological incidents, and equipment for evacuations and mass casualties.
The state money will be allocated to state agencies and to local jurisdictions. “Ideally, we would want more funding, but we?re trained and equipped to do as much as possible with as little as possible,” Pettit said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
