Taxpayers spent about $60 million in the past decade to equip Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky with trucks, armored vehicles, computers, bio-hazard suits and other gear meant to respond to a terrorist attack.

But local officials say a recent change in homeland security rules could render much of that expensive equipment useless.

That's because the new rules would shift millions of dollars in maintenance costs from the federal government to cash-strapped communities that can't afford to pay. And if no one pays for maintenance, local officials say, the equipment will sit in warehouses or fall into disrepair.

"It creates all sorts of problems," said Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper. "It's either a massive cost shift to local governments, or it means equipment will go to waste because we can't maintain it."

To make matters worse, he said, the new rules might encourage local governments to buy new equipment with federal money - which still is allowed - instead of repairing existing equipment with their own money.

The new guidelines, for example, would allow local agencies to buy a new $9,000 air monitor, but they would forbid the purchase of a $150 replacement sensor to keep the monitor running. A new video system that costs $27,000 might be approved, but a $1,000 replacement bulb for the same system would be denied.

"It's government at its worst," said Ed Dadosky, a district fire chief and homeland security coordinator in Cincinnati. "This is really hamstringing our ability to keep this up and running."

Dadosky and other emergency management officials learned about the new rules last month in an e-mail from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which provides the federal money used to buy and maintain most of the region's homeland security equipment.

Until now, Dadosky said, FEMA auditors signed off on many of the maintenance costs associated with past purchases.

Federal officials say the new guidelines clarify a policy that has been in place for years, and that local governments never should have counted on perpetual federal help with maintenance costs. They acknowledged, however, that they are studying the policy to determine whether it can be improved.

"FEMA is currently undertaking a thorough review of how our grants system can better serve our first responders," said Brad Carroll, an agency spokesman.

Critics of homeland security spending have questioned for years whether so much equipment was needed in the first place. They say federal and local officials have over-emphasized emergency response and under-funded prevention, such as improving security at major ports.

But local officials say the need is there and they have devoted years to building up the region's ability to respond to a crisis, almost always with direction and oversight from FEMA.

"To change the rules in the middle of the game, I don't think that's fair," said U.S. Rep. Steve Driehaus, D-West Price Hill, who is co-sponsoring a bill in Congress to require FEMA to help with maintenance costs. "We need to live up to our promises."

Dadosky and others say they understand money is tight and the agency is looking to cut costs, but they would rather the agency put the brakes on new purchases than cut maintenance for equipment they already have.

Dadosky said maintenance costs would run at least $1 million a year, which will be hard to come by when local governments are cutting costs and laying off workers. Without the money, he said, a wide-range of equipment and services is at risk.

Those include computer networks that require semi-annual software updates, state-wide communication systems, Cincinnati's new license-plate recognition program and hundreds of vehicles and high-tech pieces of equipment.

"Sometimes what seems smart on paper isn't smart in reality," Driehaus said of the new guidelines. "It seems to me that if you make an investment, you should maintain it."

Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky now get about $5 million a year in federal homeland security money, and have received about $60 million since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

To qualify for the money, local agencies had to set aside turf battles and agree to share all of those new trucks and hardware. They also were required to cooperate on training and planning, and to sign off together on the purchase of equipment.

Without the infusion of federal money, Dadosky said, local governments would have continued to buy only what they needed - not necessarily what was best for the entire region. And they likely would have resisted efforts to share their limited resources with other agencies.

"This is the glue," Dadosky said of the federal money. "If you take away this glue, it's going to cause the whole regional model to fail. It's going to force us to become more paternal, to look more at jurisdictional boundaries."

Mike Snowden, Hamilton County's homeland security director, said that would make local agencies less efficient and the population less safe.

"It just doesn't make sense," Snowden said. "They've been pushing a regional approach. But if we can't sustain that, we'll fall back into every county doing its own thing."

If the maintenance costs do shift to local governments, no one knows how those costs might be divvied up. Large urban communities such as Cincinnati might use the equipment the most, but they never would have bought the gear without federal help and don't have money budgeted to cover upkeep.

Smaller communities, which currently participate in homeland security planning, may just drop out if they are asked to start paying for maintenance.

And that would punch holes in a regional system that is supposed to protect everyone, said Kathy Crandall, Franklin County's homeland security director. She said disaster planning would be diminished and terrorists would be emboldened.

"We are only as safe as we are able to build the safety net," Crandall said. "If you've got one little gap, they're going to exploit it."