Cincinnati leaders face are facing a bigger budget deficit after the Cincinnati Fire Department recently was not selected to receive a $6.8 federal million grant for new firefighters.
The feds decision is unrelated to Cincinnati's sanctuary city status, said city spokesman Casey Weldon.
In previous years, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded Cincinnati Fire Department several of Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants ,usually at $6.5 million each, fire officials said Monday.
But there have been other years the department was not selected for one of the highly competitive grants and this is one of them, said Catherine Ritter, fire department spokeswoman.