BAR HARBOR – Nearly $500,000 in federal money has been earmarked to help improve safety and security in the local harbor, which is expected to see more than 100 cruise ships visit by fall.

Bar Harbor is one of a handful of Maine municipalities receiving a portion of some $1.7 million in port security grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

A little more than $1 million is going to Portland; $485,000 will go to Bar Harbor; and $63,000 will go to the Eastport Port Authority, said a news release Friday from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Sprague Energy Corp. also is receiving $63,000 for facilities in the Portland area, while the town of Falmouth is getting $30,000, it said.

Bar Harbor Police Chief Nate Young said Friday that the town had applied for up to $1.2 million in federal port security money.

He said he was not sure what would be funded with the $485,000 grant. Based on preliminary discussions he had Friday with officials in Washington, it seems likely to include a $250,000 rigid-hull inflatable boat and approximately $100,000 for an improved radar security system. Information about how the money would be spent was not included in the statement.

Young said Bar Harbor will have to match 25 percent of the grant over a three-year period, meaning it will have to fund an additional $121,000 for port security on its own to get the federal money, bringing the total to $606,000. He said he hopes to find out more about the approved federal grant money soon.

“We’re pleased with the announcement and are looking forward to finding out the details,” Young said.

He said he is not sure when Bar Harbor might receive the money.

In March, the Town Council approved a federal port security grant application that included requests for $400,000 for a new harbor surveillance facility and smaller amounts for upgraded telecommunications equipment, an off-site emergency operations center in the basement of the Municipal Building on Cottage Street, and a renovated police and fire dispatch area, and other equipment, among other things. The inflatable boat also was on the town’s application.

Bar Harbor, Portland and Rockland are scheduled to have cruise ships visit this year. Bar Harbor is expected to host 106 such visits, which could bring as many as 152,000 passengers to town by the end of October.

The cruise ship MAASDAM, which was in port May 11 was the first cruise ship to make a local visit this year. The next cruise ship visit, also by the MAASDAM, is scheduled for Friday.