Changes at the federal level are having local impacts, including funding for Cascade County disaster and emergency services.

The county was notified that their federal funding was being reduced and reimbursements under existing funding agreements are suspended while the Trump administration audits federal grant programs.

Trista Besich, county finance director, requested a meeting to discuss the impending budget shortfall in mid-March.

County DES gets the bulk of its funding through the Emergency Management Performance Grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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Jason McAllister, interim county DES manager, and Besich told County Commissioners that they were notified they’d only be receiving $47,000, in comparison to the $131,000 maximum McAllister had applied for.

Besich said the wording from the federal government was that if you were previously awarded a grant you could proceed with spending the funds, but would do so at your own risk because the federal government might not reimburse those expenses as promised in the grant award.

Besich said the county was notified by FEMA that this grant is on the chopping block.

The county was previously receiving about $140,000 annually through the EMPG program, but the funding was reduced last year and the county was notified that it would only be receiving $47,000 for the upcoming budget year.

The rules of what the funds cover have also been changing, staff and commissioners said.

“It’s incredibly impactful,” Besich said.

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She told commissioners that based on last year and current budget data, the county is looking at a shortfall of about $50,000 for DES without the reduced federal grant.

County DES is “heavily grant funded,” Besich said, and since they know the federal grant will be reduced, “we don’t have the budget to sustain current operations.”

The county officials met to discuss the anticipated budget shortfall the day after President Trump signed an executive order shifting disaster and emergency response to states and local governments.

The order states that “commonsense approaches and investments by state and local governments across American infrastructure will enhance national security and create a more resilient nation. Federal policy must rightly recognize that preparedness is most effectively owned and managed at the state, local, and even individual levels, supported by a competent, accessible, and efficient federal government. Citizens are the immediate beneficiaries of sound local decisions and investments designed to address risks, including cyber attacks, wildfires, hurricanes, and space weather. When States are empowered to make smart infrastructure choices, taxpayers benefit. This order empowers state, local and individual preparedness and injects common sense into infrastructure prioritization and strategic investments through risk-informed decisions that make our infrastructure, communities, and economy resilient to global and dynamic threats and hazards.”

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Under the order, Trump states that it’s U.S. policy that states, local governments and individuals “play a more active and significant role in national resilience and preparedness, thereby saving American lives, securing American livelihoods, reducing taxpayer burdens through efficiency, and unleashing our collective prosperity. In addition, it is the policy of the United States that my administration streamline its preparedness operations; update relevant government policies to reduce complexity and better protect and serve Americans; and enable state and local governments to better understand, plan for, and ultimately address the needs of their citizens.”

During their March 19 meeting, Commissioner Joe Briggs said the federal grant reduction is the trigger point, but it’s no a bad conversation to have as turnover in the county DES office in recent years shows “we have issues,” and have had “very problematic turnover.”

McAllister said the county DES office has limited resources already, but has to plan for a bad flood or wildfire that could quickly deplete those resources.

“You can have one bad day that costs us a lot, but hopefully not lives,” Briggs said.

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Briggs said that any time there’s grant reductions, it’s an opportunity to look at how they do things and he said “I think we’re going to be doing that a lot in the never few months.”

Besich said the county’s anticipating significant impacts to county services supported through federal grants.

“A lot will take big hits,” she said.

The Cascade County City-County Health Department and County Aging Services are both heavily grant funded, she said.

In recent years, the county DES office added resources for the quick response units, which are people with basic emergency medical technician certifications who can respond to medical emergencies countywide since an ambulance response can take awhile outside of the city limits.

In the current budget, the county allocated about $60,000 for QRU training and supplies.

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The county has 66 QRU membersm McAllister said, and they have to recertify as EMTs every other year. Those who serve on QRUs are not paid, McAllister said. He said the goal is to host at least two EMT basic courses annually to maintain that level.

Briggs said this is “probably the best it’s ever been, we don’t want to backslide.”

Commissioner Jim Larson said, “we did build them up for a reason, don’t want to tear them back down.”

On the DES grant reduction, Besich said “this is a pretty heavy tipping point.”

She said the current funding isn’t sustainable so if they ignore it, the problem will be worse in the future.

The group, which includes all three commissioners, Besich, McAllister, the county attorney’s office and Les Payne, the public works director, talked about some options for restructuring DES.

Briggs said the county was legally required to have a fire warden and provide disaster services, but state law doesn’t specify day to day operations and DES offices vary widely across the state.

The group discussed options to consolidate DES into another department, move the office to another county site and shift various county offices, but there were a number of logistical issues to be considered.

It’s a “complex problem,” Briggs said.

Besich asked if the old county jail was an option for space, but Larson said it would cost an estimated $6 million to make that building usable.

The DES office had handled radio tower and repeater sites, but McAllister, Payne and Besich have discovered that a number of invoices hadn’t been paid for those leases.

Payne said one invoice was 43 months past due and he was gathering all of the paperwork for the radio sites to better manage those details.

He said he wasn’t sure who missed it, but “things have been falling through the cracks quite a bit.”

The county maintains nine radio sites and 11 repeaters, officials said.

Briggs said that the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office uses the radios, but doesn’t pay for their upkeep.

He said some agencies such as Montana Highway Patrol and Great Falls Public Schools pay for radio use, but the city doesn’t pay much beyond some upkeep costs for their sites that are more demanding as digital radio sites.

It’s “one of many issues we have with the city,” Briggs said.

Besich said the county pays for the Code RED emergency notification system and the city doesn’t contribute to the maintenance of that system.

Great Falls Fire Rescue officials have approached the county with a proposal to take over management of the county DES system.

Carey Ann Haight said it was doable with an interlocal agreement detailing shared services, costs and responsibilities.

“It can be done as well as the other joint operations we have with the city,” Briggs said. “I would rather not waste time on something that’s not going to happen.”

He said if such a joint operation were pursued, he’d want a joint oversight body, but recent state law changes took that option away.

The county and city have other joint operations with the health department, Great Falls Public Library and 911 dispatch center.

All three have come with disputes over funding and management between the city and county for at least the last decade.

McAllister is serving as the interim DES manager. The office’s administrative position is also vacant and the county is currently accepting applications for both positions.

Larson said the county had received about four or five applications from those possibly qualified for the position and will follow the same interview and hiring process as last year.

He said they’ll be working with human resources about when to close the application period and schedule interviews.