Using a new formula to dole out grants, the federal Homeland Security Department said Wednesday that Utah would get $8 million this year for protection efforts, down from $20 million in 2005.
"Some of the projects that we anticipated doing, we'll have to put those off," said Derek Jensen, spokesman for the state Public Safety Department's Homeland Security Division.
Utah got nearly $27 million in grants two years ago and has put the money toward allowing emergency communication between multiple jurisdictions in the state.
Officials expected the cut - a result of a new method to divvy up $1.7 billion in federal grants - and Jensen downplayed worries that public safety would be harmed. "I don't think we'll have an immediate impact where something gets cut that's vital to homeland security."
Federal authorities are now shipping more dollars to states they say are more prone to terrorist attacks, such as those with large metropolitan areas or critical facilities. California received the most funds, at about $232 million, in the 2006 grants, with New York in second place at nearly $184 million. Utah ranked 45th of the 50 states and the District of Columbia for the amount of money received, with some less populated states, such as Idaho and Alaska, taking in more funds.
The changes are not going over well in the two main targets of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks: New York City and Washington, D.C. They will receive 40 percent less in homeland security grants.
New York officials said the funding cut doesn't make sense in light of reports that terrorists have picked out the city's financial district and bridges as potential targets.
''DHS and the administration have declared war on New York City, and I am going to fight this as hard as I possibly can,'' House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., told Bloomberg News. ''This raises very serious questions about the quality and sincerity of management at every level of the department.''
Also critical of the grant distribution - but for different reasons - was Sen. Orrin Hatch. The Utah Republican fought unsuccessfully to retain a formula assuring rural and smaller states wouldn't be left behind. He said in a statement Wednesday that the changes "shortchanged Utah."
"Washington's already biased enough against us - the bureaucrats just don't understand the national security infrastructure needs we have in our state," Hatch said.
Members of the 9/11 Commission, which recommended targeting funds to critical areas, had argued last year that it was "scandalous" that terrorism preparedness money was being used like pork-barrel funds to boost politicians' standing back home.
"We shouldn't need another wake-up call," Thomas Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey who headed the commission, said in December. "We believe that the terrorists will strike again; so does every responsible expert that we have talked to. And if they do, and these reforms that might have prevented such an attack have not been implemented, what will our excuse be?"
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday the department is "committed" to ensuring local and state governments have the training, equipment and resources they need to be prepared, but that targeted funds make more sense.
"Our goal is to greatly enhance the collective preparedness of the nation while making certain that finite resources are directed to areas most at risk and to solutions that are innovative and regionally driven," Chertoff said.
Utah officials plan to give 80 percent of the federal funds to local governments; 20 percent will go toward state efforts.
tburr@sltrib.com
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Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke contributed to this report.
