A $3.8 federal grant that would help Citrus County fund its fire services for three years has had to be turned back to FEMA because the county doesn't have the money to fund the third year.

Although the grant caveat was pointed out by Citrus County Fire Chief Larry Morabito to the county commission on Feb. 22, the county took until Tuesday to decide it couldn't afford to fulfill the grant requirement that would have required the county to pull $1.4 million from county coffers.

To emphasize the problem, County Administrator Brad Thorpe reminded commissioners on Tuesday that the county already has a $7 million budget shortfall in the General Fund, and the Fire Services Department is short $1.1 million from declining ad valorem revenues in the county's Fire District.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant (SAFER) was created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations in order to help them increase the number of trained, "front line" firefighters available in their communities. The goal of SAFER is to enhance the local fire departments' abilities to comply with staffing, response and operational standards established by the National Fire Protection Association and OSHA.

All the grant's promises seemed like a federal Disneyland to the county - the federal government would foot the bill for two years to allow the hiring up to additional 39 firefighters. During the three-year grant period, the county cannot reduce the workforce of firefighters while providing wages for the firefighters, and all the county had to do was provide training and equipment for the firefighters.

But the devil was in the details - funding the third year from the county treasury just isn't there. So with regret, Thorpe said, the county should turn back the grant. He said that he hoped the county to reapply at some point in the future.

The commission unanimously agreed.