North Las Vegas police awarded $1.75 million grant

North Las Vegas got a rare bit of good news Monday when it was announced that the Police Department will receive a $1.75 million federal grant.

But accepting the grant would require $3.2 million in matching funds from the city, police Sgt. Tim Bedwell said.

The grant, announced Monday by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid's office, comes from the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services program. Overall, according to the Justice Department, the grants totaled $111 million and went to police departments across the country. North Las Vegas is the only department in Nevada to receive one this year.

Bedwell said the grant pays partial salaries for up to 14 officers if the city agrees to pay the rest of those salaries. That decision will be up to the City Council.

The city is in dire financial straits, recently declaring a state of financial emergency in the hopes that such a declaration will allow city management to void portions of union contracts. Without doing so, city officials say, layoffs within the police and fire departments will be necessary to close a $30 million budget gap in the upcoming year.

Bedwell said the department applied for the same grant last year but did not receive it.

"We're definitely happy to get this," he said, despite the matching fund requirement.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.