In Brief

Mixed Reviews For DHS Grants

By Todd Datz

March 01, 2005 — CSO — DHS Some cities and states celebrated, while others cried foul after the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Domestic Preparedness released its FY05 federal terrorism preparedness grants last December. Responding to complaints from big-city mayors, DHS, taking into account the fact that cities such as New York and Washington, D.C., deserve bigger pieces of the pie, shifted more of the $2.5 billion awarded to state and local governments to urban areas, under the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) program.

The terrorism preparedness grant program allocated $1.66 billion to be divided among states, territories and the District of Columbia under the existing formula, which was part of the USA Patriot Act (0.75 percent of total appropriations go to each state, 0.25 percent to each territory). Another $855 million was allocated to UASI.

Some city officials were happier than others. New York City, for example, received a grant under UASI for $208 million, an increase of $161 million from 2004. Memphis, on the other hand, saw its share shrink from $10 million in 2004 to zero in 2005. And the state grant formula continued to elicit howls from large states. Why? Because the formula sets aside 40 percent of total appropriations to be divided equally among the states, regardless of population or other risk factors. The result is that, out of the $2.5 billion allotted for homeland grants, a state such as Wyoming is slated to receive $27.80 per capita in 2005, while California will receive $8.05.