Clark County expected to get lion’s share of homeland security funds

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2004 | 10:13 a.m.

The state is scheduled to receive three grants -- the State Homeland Security Program, the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program and the Citizen Corp. Program -- from the Justice Department totaling about $26.5 million in 2004. Three percent of the funds will cover the state's administrative costs.

State Homeland Security

$20.1 million; $25,000 will be given to each of the 16 counties with the remaining money divided according to population.

Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program

$5.9 million will be allocated on a need basis to local and state agencies by the Nevada Homeland Security Commission and the State Division of Emergency Management.

Citizen Corp. Program

$418,000 will be allocated on a need basis to state and local agencies for neighborhood watch and other community programs by the Nevada Homeland Security Commission and the State Division of Emergency Management.

Urban Area Security Initiative

$10.5 million allocated directly to Clark County as one of 50 urban areas facing increased chances of a terrorist attack.

Finance Panel Members

The Nevada Homeland Security Commission's finance subcommittee will review grant applications from local and state agencies and recommend if funds should be released for requests for equipment, training, exercises or planning. The committee includes 11 members, 10 of whom are members of the Security Commission:

Jerry Bussell, Nevada State Homeland Security Advisor and chairman of the Nevada Homeland Security Commission

Clark County Sheriff Bill Young

George Togliatti, director of the Nevada Department of Public Safety, and a former FBI agent who headed up Las Vegas' organized crime strike force

Dr. Dale Carrison, director of emergency services at University Medical Center and a tactical physician for Metro Police search and rescue and SWAT

Chuck Lowden, Reno fire chief

Washoe County Assistant Sheriff Jim Lopey

Humboldt County Undersheriff Brian Jonas

Richard Brenner, Clark County Fire Department protection engineer

Tod Carlini, East Fork fire chief (in the Gardnerville area)

Bob Hadfield, president of the Nevada Association of Counties

Tim McAndrew, Las Vegas emergency manager, is not a member of the security commission but serves in an advisory role without a vote.

Clark County should receive the majority of Nevada's three pots of federal homeland security money totaling more than $26.5 million, thanks to a plan approved Tuesday by the Nevada Homeland Security Commission.

The Justice Department's fiscal year 2004 funding could be released to the Nevada Division of Emergency Management sometime in the next three to six weeks, triggering a 60-day window for the money to be allocated within the state.

The commission on Tuesday decided to parcel out the money to state and local entities using a formula that takes into account population and need.

That will make Clark County the biggest recipient of the funding because 70 percent of the state's population lives in the southern part of the state, mainly in Clark County.

Deputy Chief Bill Conger, head of Metro Police's homeland security detail, said more sparsely populated counties will not be neglected, however.

"The population system has the most merit, but it is incumbent on us to make sure that the smaller counties get what they need," Conger said.

In order to add flexibility to the population-based formula the committee included a $25,000 base allocation to 16 of the state's 17 counties from the state's first pot of money, a $20.1 million general security allocation. The rest of that pot will be divided based strictly on population. That should net Clark County around $11.3 million.

The second and third pots of money total about $6.4 million and will be divvied up based on needs.

The commission's finance committee will work with State Emergency Management Chief Frank Siracusa to determine which applications from state and local agencies for equipment, training, exercises and planning will be approved.

Nevada's Homeland Security Director Jerry Bussell, chairman of the commission's finance committee, said the job will not be an easy one.

"This is where the rubber meets the road," Bussell said. "We're going to be the ones to tell people that they can have this, and that they can't have that."

The finance committee includes Sheriff Bill Young, Director of the State Department of Public Safety George Togliatti and University Medical Center Emergency Services Director Dr. Dale Carrison, among others.

"We want to get the best bang for our bucks," Siracusa said. "We need a body to take a look at the applications and make sure they meet with the state strategy."

Also on Tuesday the commission voted to continue to disperse the funds through local emergency planning committees, groups at the county level that include community members and first responders.

Local Emergency Planning Committees could be replaced as a mechanism for delivering future grant monies to local agencies, as the commission plans to conduct a study on the effectiveness of those commmittees, said Bob Hadfield, a commission member and president of the Nevada Association of Counties.

"A review of the funding system requires a considerable amount of time and effort, and with the grants being awarded to the state within weeks we just don't have the time now," Hadfield said. "By staying with the (Local Eemergency Planning Committees) we keep ourselves on track."

The commission's funding plan is only for fiscal year 2004 money from the Justice Department's office of domestic preparedness, and a plan for 2005 could be different, Bussell said.

Of the total of $26.5 million in homeland security funds that the state is scheduled to receive this year, about $800,000 will be used to cover the costs of the state Division of Emergency Management for administering the grants. Federal regulations say that at least 80 percent of the money must go to local agencies, with as much as 20 percent going to the state.

The finance committee will determine how much state agencies such as the Nevada Highway Patrol and the Nevada Division of Investigation will receive. Carson City will be funded as if it were a state agency.

The state's Indian tribes also will receive a portion of the funding.

In addition to its share of the Justice Department monies for Nevada, Clark County is also scheduled to receive an additional grant of $10.5 million after being named one of 50 cities considered to be facing an elevated risk of a terrorist attack.

From 1999 to 2003 the state of Nevada received about $30 million in federal homeland security funds, with about $11.4 million going to Clark County over that period.