Counties size up Homeland Security dollars.
There are a lot of ways the New Mexican government could spend $18,499,124. For instance-and we're just spitballing here-the State could purchase roughly 10 "Betty Boop" lottery tickets for every man, woman and child in the Land of Enchantment. Or perhaps generously accouter each resident with a "The Feds gave the
***image1***
State $18.5 million in grant money and all I got was this crummy T-shirt" apparel.
Not that such a profound fashion statement would safeguard citizens from a sordid saboteur dropping cyanide in the water supply, rigging plastic explosives to bridges or extracting the zing out of all the red chiles from Las Cruces to Las Vegas. But at least everyone could coordinate their outfits.
Okay, so maybe we're not so good at the security budget thing. But that's why there is the state Office of Homeland Security. And that's why the OHS will allocate the nearly $18.5 million in grant money it was awarded for 2005 by the federal Office of Domestic Preparedness on March 31 to bolstering New Mexico's security infrastructure.
The sum is relatively paltry compared to the nearly $300 million granted to both New York and California, but it will allow counties throughout New Mexico to upgrade and refurbish the means for protecting the state's residents. But just how much security funding Santa Fe County in particular will receive is still being determined.
"Each county, plus Albuquerque, has a shopping list," says State Department of Public Safety Spokesman Peter Olson. "They put their requests into us and we allocate resources using a formula based on need, population and other factors…Money that we get-the vast majority of it-flows to local jurisdictions for personal protective gear, rubber gloves, firetrucks and things like that."
Or, say, a $278,000 mobile command vehicle.
Which-along with a $250,000 hazardous materials response vehicle-was a purchase paraded in the Plaza by Santa Fe City and County officials March 25. The (im)mobile command vehicle suffered a humiliating debut when it broke down during its first assignment (monitoring the pilgrims flocking to Santuario de Chimayo) but it-and its hazmat counterpart-are illustrious examples of the kind of toys ODP grant money can provide for protecting New Mexico's girls and boys.
But counties jostling to wrangle security funding from the grants are not merely drawing straws. According to Robert Redden, chief of the DPS' Domestic Preparedness Bureau, each county undergoes a rigorous application process before resources are allotted from four separate federal grant programs, the largest of which (the State Homeland Security Grant) holds more than $12 million to divvy up for resources like training, equipment, cybersecurity and regional response items.
"As an example," Redden says, "the hazmat van the City bought and the mobile command center the County bought last year-that was based on regional response."
Individual counties have until April 18 to submit security funding applications, after which the Department of Public Safety has 60 days to distribute the grant money. According to Redden, any funds left over will be divided automatically among the counties' emergency management response units.
Which means we don't have to give up the T-shirt dream just yet.
