ANNAPOLIS, MD (October 1, 2007) –Governor Martin O’Malley today announced more than $29 million in homeland security grant funds for local communities in Maryland. The funds are part of three U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant programs for state and local government: the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP), and Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program (LETTP).
“As a result of the partnership and hard work of our local first responders and state agencies, Maryland received more funding in each of these competitive grant programs this year than last year, and more than $8 million more than in the previous year overall,” said Governor O’Malley. “Although the available funds are still far less than Maryland’s overall needs, the increase will provide much needed support to our local first responders.”
Although state government, by law, is allowed to retain up to 20 percent of DHS funds for its own use, Governor O’Malley announced that the State would retain only half of the funds it was eligible for, passing through an additional $3.6 million to local communities in Maryland, including one hundred percent of Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) funds for high-risk urban areas to the Baltimore metropolitan region. In 2006 the state had retained a full twenty percent of urban area and other funds for its own use.
Funds are being provided to every county in Maryland, Baltimore City, Ocean City, and Annapolis. Funding amounts were determined by providing a baseline amount to each jurisdiction, with the balance of funds allocated using a formula calculating each jurisdiction’s level of risk. The formula was developed by the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) working with emergency management and law enforcement personnel from local jurisdictions. Each jurisdiction will receive a baseline award of $130,000 in SHSGP funds and $50,000 in LETPP funds.
Funds will be used for a variety of projects, including providing protective equipment to first responders, hardening critical infrastructure, and building interoperable communications systems. The $3 million in funds utilized by the state would likely be used primarily to support equipment purchases for Maryland State Police and other state agencies and for state-funded regional response units such as the state’s bomb squads.
The state expects to announce the allocation of an additional $23 million in federal communications interoperability funds within the next few weeks.