Despite being left off a list of seven cities recently awarded a total of $100 million in extra funds for domestic preparedness, the city of Boston is receiving sufficient support from the federal government for homeland security expenses, officials said yesterday.
“Everyone would like and could use more money,” said Peter Judge, spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. “Massachusetts is getting a fair share of the pie.”
Judge said the state is not being put at risk for lack of funding, and emphasized that no amount of money could ensure complete security. The state has just finished distributing $10 million for emergency equipment, including hazardous materials suits, communications equipment and basic needs like flashlights, he said.
“We’re making the best of what we have,” he said. “People are going to be safe no matter how much money we get.”
The latest grants were just part of an ongoing process of distributing funds, officials said, and Boston will have future opportunities to get funding.
On Wednesday, President George W. Bush signed a bill to provide $79 billion to pay for the war in Iraq and related expenses, including $4 billion for homeland security. Of that, $2.2 billion will be distributed to states, and $700 million is specifically for urban areas.
The new bill includes long-promised grants for “first responders,” intended to help local police, fire and emergency workers.
“We might have missed the brass ring in the first round, but we’re hopeful about getting funding for the future,” said Howard Leibowitz, Boston’s director of Intergovernmental Relations, the department that deals with funding distributed by the state and federal governments.
Leibowitz said most of the cities that received domestic preparedness grants, announced by the White House last week, are larger than Boston. The grants were awarded to New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle.
According to a White House press release, cities were selected for the grants on the basis of “population density, critical infrastructure and threat/vulnerability assessment.” Boston, the 20th largest city in the United States, has a population density of about 12,000 people per square mile, making it as densely populated as Chicago and more so than Washington, Los Angeles, Houston and Seattle.
After Boston was left off the list, Mayor Thomas Menino, Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) wrote to Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge to request federal funding.
Leibowitz said additional funding would be ideal, but cities must address security concerns with limited funds because the country is facing budget deficits at all levels of government.
“Obviously there are increased responsibilities,” he said. “That’s what local government deals with.”
“It’s going to get harder and harder as the city faces more cutbacks,” Leibowitz added. Under Romney’s budget proposal, state aid to Boston would be cut by $50 million in 2003.
David Goggin, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety, said the state is lobbying the federal government for increased funding.
“We recognize that local first-responders are being asked to do more since September 11,” Goggin said. He said the state is applying for $11.7 million in federal grants for domestic preparedness, which it expects to receive by late May.
Officials added that more flexibility to spend grant money would be helpful. Many of the recent grants have been designated for equipment, Goggin said, but funds for training and police overtime are also needed.