Agency puts NYC's unspent security grant money at $337M

WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security stuck to its guns Monday, insisting there are millions of dollars in unspent transit and port security grants available to New York - and that the amount has grown to $337 million since Friday.

DHS released that figure - $62 million more than the $275 in unspent funds it cited Friday - in response to Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), who Monday again blamed federal red tape for unspent funds.

"As required by Congress, all capital projects - including those funded by the Transit Security Grant Program that enhance the security of our critical transportation infrastructure - undergo mandatory historic and environmental reviews before work can begin," said DHS spokesman Clark Stevens in a statement.

"As of today there is more than $330 million dollars in port and transit security funding from [fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2009] that has gone through the necessary environmental and historic reviews and is available for drawdown by the grantees" in New York, he said.

Since the failed car bomb in Times Square on May 1, King and other New York lawmakers have demanded a bigger share of federal anti-terror money that late last week turned into a political tangle between King and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano over the availability of security grants from the past four years. It also highlighted the lengthy review process for funding that local grantees go through.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg dismissed the debate yesterday. "It's purely a numbers game," he said. "The real issue is this city is a target and we don't get our fair share . . . if you start counting the risks."

King did not immediately respond to the new dollar amount of unspent grant money disclosed late Monday.

But King, as the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said he would seek a hearing on whether DHS had improved the grant approval process as it promised it would in a response to a 2009 Government Accountability Office report.

Port Authority spokesman John Kelly and New York State Homeland Security office spokeswoman Amy Bonano Monday said the DHS review process had held up past grants.

The report found that DHS "management and resource issues" resulted in lengthy delays as long as 20 months in approving projects and making security grant money available to transit agencies.

A DHS official said as of Monday, the department had cleared $308 million in transit security grants for New York, including $276 million for the New York State Office of Homeland Security, $19.6 million to the MTA, and $12.9 million to the Port Authority of New Jersey and New York.

In addition, DHS as of Monday had cleared $29 million in port security grants, including $16 million for the Port Authority.

An official said the amount of grant money allocated, cleared and drawn down is "fluid," changing day to day.