Maine ranks low in some security spending

PORTLAND – Despite its expansive international border and hundreds of miles of coastline, Maine ranks low for federal homeland security spending for salaries, grants and contracts, according to new census data.

An analysis of Department of Homeland Security spending in fiscal 2003 showed Maine lags behind heavily populated states in total spending.

Maine ranked 42nd in the nation for overall spending at $41.2 million, but the ranking rose to 19th when viewed on a per capita basis.

Art Cleaves, director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency, said federal spending levels are satisfactory as long as they aren’t reduced. “We simply cannot afford to drop,” Cleaves said Wednesday.

The Census Bureau’s Consolidated Federal Funds Report marked the first opportunity for a comprehensive look at Department of Homeland Security spending.

Included were the Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency along with agencies formerly known as the Border Patrol, Immigration and Naturalization Service and Customs Service.

In Maine, the federal government has bolstered its presence along the state’s 611-mile border with Canada and has boosted port security following the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.

Maine’s focus has been on ensuring communications, protecting vital infrastructure and equipping first responders, Cleaves said.

Cumberland County, home to the state’s biggest Coast Guard station and the state’s busiest airport, received more than double the sum received by any other counties in the state: $19.9 million, according to the data.

Kennebec County, seat of state government and home to the Maine Emergency Management Agency, received $7.6 million, and Aroostook County, which has a large border protection contingent, received $7.4 million.

Viewed on a per capita basis, Washington, Knox and Hancock counties each received the most money, with spending of $107.50 to $150.22 per resident. Each of those coastal counties received more than $5 million.

A proposal put forth by Sen. Susan Collins creates a baseline of funding to ensure rural states such as Maine get their share.

The Homeland Security Grant Enhancement Act attached to the intelligence reform bill sponsored by Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., would ensure a minimum level of funding for all states while doubling spending in those states considered to be at the highest risk for terrorist attacks.

Cleaves said it’s important to strike that balance. Without the initiative, threat-based funding would send nearly all of the federal money to heavily populated urban areas like New York and Los Angeles.