After Iraq: security, economic worries; regional officials increase calls for federal safety aid.

It's a giant case of too little, too late.

As bombs fell on Iraq last week and fears rose of a terrorist attack on L.A.-area targets, local officials were scrambling to come up with millions of dollars to fund first responder programs because long-promised federal funds had yet to arrive.

And when those federal dollars do start coming in--late next month at the earliest--they are likely to be in far smaller amounts than had been hoped.

That has left local governments dipping into their own depleted coffers to fund a variety of health and safety programs.

Last Tuesday, the L.A. City Council approved $5 million in city general fund dollars for protective suits for firefighters, police units and public health workers that comprise the ranks of first responders. That's on top of the $80 million the city had previously spent on terrorism preparedness--none of which has been reimbursed by the federal government.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, the county allocated $10 million out of its cash-strapped general fund for communications gear to allow sheriff's deputies and firefighters to be on the same frequencies.

Both city and county officials said more such expenditures are inevitable in the coming weeks as the costs of emergency preparedness mount.

"Local government is going to have to do what they have to do to protect its citizens," L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe. "If the money doesn't come from the federal government in time like it's supposed to, it means the money has to come from other programs that we'd like to fund."

L.A. city officials say they need $100 million to $125 million for first responders and to protect dozens of potential terrorist targets like film studios and Los Angeles International Airport. County officials are lobbying for at least that much, much of it for first responders on the public health front.

Trouble is, these local officials were counting on the federal government to provide the funds up front for these expenditures.

Pressuring representatives

Both President Bush and the Congressional leadership had promised as much repeatedly over the past 18 months. And $3.5 billion was earmarked for the 2002-03 fiscal year for first responders and bioterrorism preparedness.

But to date, virtually no federal funds have actually made it to the local level for use by first responders, even though the 2002-03 fiscal year is half over.

For starters, the 2002-03 budget was five months late in getting passed, thanks to partisan wrangling and a standoff prior to the fall Congressional elections.

Over the last six months, state and local officials made repeated trips to Washington to urge passage of the budget and the first responder funding. The City of L.A. even turned to a legal and lobbying firm, Patton Boggs LLC, to make its case.

"I've been back to D.C. twice on this issue alone and other times in conjunction with other requests," Knabe said. "We met and are still meeting with anyone and everyone we can meet with on both sides of the aisle. We're sort of at the whim of Congress here."

But even though Congress passed the 2002-03 budget, it was only the first step in a long and tortuous journey for federal first responder funds.

Most of the monies have been handed over to the newly created Department of Homeland Security, which set up a grant application process for disbursement of funds. States have until mid-April to pull together information from local governments, law enforcement agencies and hospitals and submit applications to DHS for the funds, Once those applications come in, DHS will take a week to review them and three more weeks to actually send the funds to the states, which then has to send them to counties and then on to cities.

As a result, L.A. isn't likely to receive any federal funds before Memorial Day.

"We're at a tremendous disadvantage here because we're at the bottom of the chain," said Carmel Sella, deputy mayor for intergovernmental relations.

Skipping Sacramento

The city is pushing for direct appropriation of federal dollars to municipal governments, Sella said.

And the city may have a sympathetic ear from Rep. Chris Cox, R-Newport Beach, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee in the House.

"The problem here is having to run all these monies through the state capitals," Cox said. "Not only is there extra time involved, but I have grave concerns about Sacramento recasting existing functions as homeland security to plug holes in its deficit."

Cox said he is trying to push legislation that would bypass the states completely and award the monies directly to local governments. But even if the money flows more smoothly, there's still far too little flowing, local government officials say.

Of $1 billion earmarked by the federal government for first responder funds, the amounts ultimately going to local government entities are quite small. California, for example, is only slated to receive $45 million for the first raft of grants, about $31 million for equipment and the rest split among training, incident rehearsals and planning. Of that, L.A. city and L.A. County will each likely get less than $10 million.

The remaining $2.5 billion in funds is slated for ongoing programs, most of which will sec only slight increases from last year. Among these: the Assistance to Firefighters Program and various programs in the former Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"Contrary to what's being put forward by the federal government, this really isn't new money. It's just diverting money from existing federal funds to local governments," Sella said.

That's why local officials are seeking more first responder funds from Congress. In his 2003-04 budget, President Bush has proposed another $3.5 billion in homeland security funding; that budget was up for a final vote in the House of Representatives late last week.

But Rep. Jane Harman, D-Redondo Beach, said that amount was insufficient and was pushing for a $7 billion total allocation, with the additional $3.5 billion possibly coming from the supplemental appropriation that Bush is expected to send to Congress to cover the cost of the war with Iraq.