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U.S. States Fail to Provide Federal Security Funds to Cities, Say Mayors By Joe Fiorill WASHINGTON — U.S. states are failing to provide most of the country’s cities with funds from the largest federal grant program for terrorism response, despite a federal rule requiring states to “pass through” most of the funds promptly, a mayors’ group said yesterday in a new survey. The mayors’ survey was the latest shot fired in a longstanding skirmish between states and cities over control of federal money for WMD- and terrorism-related equipment and training (see GSN, Dec. 19, 2003). “Homeland security money went to the states by Federal Express but came to the cities by Pony Express. This report is a national call for improving the system, and we look forward to sharing these findings with the Department of Homeland Security and Congress,” said U.S. Conference of Mayors President James Garner, who is mayor of Hempstead, N.Y. The report’s release at a Conference of Mayors meeting here highlighted continuing state-local tensions over the funds on a day when President George W. Bush vowed to present Congress with a budget including $30 billion for homeland security, “almost three times the amount that we were spending prior to Sept. 11, 2001.” Bush told a New Mexico audience, “I can’t tell you how pleased I am with the coordination now between the federal government, the state government and local governments for preparing our homeland.” In an address delivered this morning at the mayors’ meeting, though, the president appeared to back away from yesterday’s optimistic assessment. The former Texas governor said mayors have told him that federal money has become “stuck” at the state level and promised to help resolve the problem. “We’ll work with the mayors to make sure it gets unstuck. … I’m not interested in pointing fingers. I’m interested in making the system work better,” Bush said. The mayors said 76 percent of cities have received no money from the Homeland Security Department’s $1.3 billion first responder program and $200 million critical infrastructure program. The numbers, based on a survey of 215 cities in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, were a slight improvement on a related Conference of Mayors survey five months ago, which indicated 90 percent of cities had received no funds. States were required to allocate 80 percent of the funds within 45 days of receiving grants — by Aug. 1 of last year, at the latest. The mayors’ survey gives at best an indirect indication of states’ compliance with the “pass-through” requirement, which pertains to the portion of the money that states have doled out, not to the percentage of cities that have benefited. In addition, 58 percent of cities said their homeland security programs could benefit by funds received by other jurisdictions, usually county governments. National Emergency Management Association Executive Director Trina Hembree, whose group represents state emergency management agencies, questioned the mayors’ focus on the percentage of cities that have received funds. “It is misleading. ... There is no requirement that every city receive funding,” Hembree said. “It’s our belief and knowledge, through extensive surveying and communication with the states, that, indeed, they are meeting all of the deadlines being set by Congress to distribute the funding,” Hembree said. Because funding is limited, she said, states are allocating much of the grant money to regional coordinating bodies, meaning that city governments may never directly control the funds. Hembree pointed to another federal program, the Urban Area Security Initiative, as evidence that the needs of cities are not being ignored. The program is designed to ensure that the 30 largest U.S. cities receive direct federal payments for homeland security, demonstrating, according to Hembree, that “there is that recognition of the need for some of the money to go to the larger cities.” In the Conference of Mayors survey, 46 percent of cities said they have not been involved in state planning for use of Urban Area Security Initiative money. Hembree said Congress demands that states submit needs assessments and closely regulate how homeland security grant money is spent. Responding to Garner’s charge that states receive money at “Federal Express” speed but pay it out at “Pony Express” speed, Hembree said, “It’s certainly not Federal Express. It’s a 12-step, red-tape, bureaucratic process that certainly DHS is trying to address.” “We’re not here to say that [the mayors are] wrong. We just think there needs to be a better understanding globally of the grants process,” Hembree said.
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