Meth lab cleanup is not a budgeted item for the Hall County Sheriff's Office. It never had to be.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has funded the service, a painstaking process of handling and disposing contaminated materials, through federal grants.

But the DEA recently said the grants are not enough to meet the demand. That means agencies will have to foot the bill, which can exceed $1,500 per cleanup, depending on the size of the methamphetamine lab discovered, officials said.

"This is going to impact law enforcement all over the U.S.," said Col. Jeff Strickland, spokesman for Hall County Sheriff's Office. "The Sheriff's Office is very concerned with this issue. This is something that we do not have a line item in our budget to take care of. And if we do have to pay for this, it will significantly impact our budget."

Word filtered down to the Sheriff's Office and other local agencies through the Georgia Bureau of Investigation about two weeks ago.

The news resulted in several law enforcement associations issuing statements of support for federal funding.

In one letter distributed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the association's president Mark A. Marshall detailed how Congress funded such cleanups under the Community Oriented Policing Services program known as COPS. However, the $10 million provided was not enough, and it's unclear where continued funding will come from in the future, Marshall said.

"The IACP has learned that the DEA has pursued alternative funding streams for lab cleanup and will continue to do so," Marshall said. "The IACP will work with DEA, Congress and our other law enforcement partners to find a successful solution to this critical problem."

In the meantime, the Sheriff's Office expects to be responsible for bills that occur as a result of meth lab busts, Strickland said.

When such cases occur, the Multi Agency Narcotics Unit and its officers, who are trained in handling such situations, go to the scene and relocate the often combustible and toxic materials to a safe area, Strickland said.

The contaminants are then placed in biohazard bags or barrels. That's when the DEA would be notified of a situation requiring cleanup, removal and disposal, Strickland said.

"What we'll have to do if a meth lab is found in the future, until this issue is resolved, is hire a contractor who is licensed in the disposal of hazardous materials," he said. "The burden of having to pay for that will lie with local (agencies)."