"NO GRANT" NOTICES GO TO 1,161 FIRE DEPARTMENTS; OTHERS SHARE $235 MILLION AWARDED SO FAR
Originally Posted: December 12, 2002 5:46 PM
Last Updated: December 12, 2002 11:34 PM
The 2002 matching Fire Act grant awards are still being released. The award process may be finished by the end of December 2002 or in January 2003. Approximately $115 million still has to be awarded. 3,700 fire departments have received $235 million so far in 2002.
Meanwhile, the US Fire Administration is announcing which fire departments grant applications were rejected. 1,161 rejection notices are being sent before Christmas.
The FY 03 funding has been stalled because Congress left Washington having passed only a temporary continuing resolution rather than a full year-long appropriations bill. Under this temporary status, no Federal Register notice will be issued concerning the new application season.
What does this mean? Grants will probably be awarded later in 2003 or even in early 2004 because of the show start. On the other hand, in 2002 the Fire Administration did a good job at the beginning of the year in getting the grant process underway once the appropriations became available.
Our best advice to fire departments: Rather than trying to meet your needs by waiting for the USFA to release funds, go ahead and obtain what you need now but reserve some funds which can be set aside as matching money in event you are lucky enough to win one of the 2003 grants. With two years of Fire Act grants under our belt, it has become clear that holding up all purchases in hopes of a matching grant is frustrating and for the majority of departments a needless wait because more applications are rejected than granted.
|
