State Awarded More Than $2.8 Million for Emergency Management
EMERGENCY
The New London Day
Renée Dudley
Boston University Washington News Service
6 March 2007
WASHINGTON, March 6 – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will allocate more than $2.8 million to support local emergency management in Connecticut.
Deputy Commissioner Wayne Sandford of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security said the grant, although it is a $230,000 increase over last year’s sum, is still not enough.
Sandford said Connecticut would need $750,000 to $1 million more than the new grant to be able to share the funds with every city and town in the state. He added that the emergency management performance grant is the only federal money that contributes to emergency planning on the local level.
Connecticut’s grant allocation has decreased since 9/11, but this year’s increase brings funding back to immediate post-9/11 levels, Sandford said.
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, called the new grant “a step on the road to ensuring that the state has what it takes to prepare for, respond to and recover from any type of hazard that might strike – from natural disasters to terrorist attacks.”
Lieberman has proposed, in legislation being debated in the Senate this week, nearly a quadrupling of funds for emergency management grants. “Hurricane Katrina demonstrated just how ill-prepared government at all levels is to respond to catastrophes,” he said. The proposed increase, he added, “will better prepare all states for an ‘all hazards’ approach to homeland security.”
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) said that he backs up Sen. Lieberman’s efforts but that this year’s grant is not enough for Connecticut.
“Although we’re a small state, we’re a densely populated state,” Courtney said, noting Eastern Connecticut’s proximity to New York City as well as the presence of the Groton submarine base. “We’re a significant potential target.”
He added: “If New London port had to be evacuated, it would be a nightmare. Our system of emergency response needs to be upgraded to post-9/11 environment.”
Courtney said that since a “post-9/11 burst of resources” Connecticut has struggled to get sufficient funding. “If we don’t get adequate resources through [the grants], it’s almost impossible to get them through local property tax.”
Sandford said the grants are neither competitive nor hazard-based but instead are awarded based on a formula weighted by population. “The [U.S.] Department of Homeland Security wants every community to have an up-to-date and fully functioning emergency plan.”
Sandford said the grant can be used to fund anything related to emergency management, including supplies, operating expenses and salaries of local emergency response personnel. About 70 towns in Connecticut are currently receiving funding, he said.
“We roll out as much as possible to local municipalities,” he said, adding that the amount received must be matched by local funds, which could include payments-in-kind, such as services or salaries.
Branda Napper, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman for grants and training, said the emergency management performance grant program “provides assistance to state and local governments by sustaining and enhancing local emergency management.” She said the funding is intended for emergency management-related equipment, training and exercises.
New London City Manager Martin Berliner said that New London has already applied to the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security for a share of the funding as a part of the Council of Governments of Southeastern Connecticut, a group of towns in the region. Berliner said it was uncertain when the grants will come through and that in the past New London worked directly with the state to apply for the grants.
The performance grant program, which announced the allocations last week, has awarded $194 million to state and local governments this year. Emergency managers have been awarded more than $750 million since 2004 through the program.
###
