Olympic security planners are still awaiting the approval of $12 million in federal funds to cover public safety costs during the Games.
With the recent shift of power in the U.S. Senate, many in Utah charged with protecting the Games are wondering what Congress will do with the $12 million President Bush has set aside for Olympic public safety costs in his 2002 budget. That chunk of money makes up almost half of the $29 million to $30 million budget for Olympic public safety, Utah Public Safety Commissioner Robert Flowers told Sen. Orrin Hatch during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Thursday's two-hour hearing was Hatch's chance to see how the 60 federal, state and local agencies in charge of Olympic public safety are getting along.
The 11 federal, state and local public safety representatives who addressed Hatch all agreed there has been unprecedented cooperation. Still, many who testified Thursday said their biggest concerns with 10 months left until the Games were money-related.
Congress isn't scheduled to vote on the president's 2002 budget until October. Flowers said number-crunchers in Washington, D.C., have told him the money is there, but until Congress actually passes the president's budget he and others are left wondering if the much-needed $12 million will come.
"That's difficult for us because that puts us three months out (from the Games)," Flowers said.
Hatch urged Flowers and others to estimate their costs and go ahead with their plans but stopped short of guaranteeing those funds.
"So far we've been able to get the funds that are necessary," Hatch said after Thursday's hearing. "Both parties are very much concerned about the Olympics."
The majority of the $12 million would pay police agencies for the overtime costs of sending officers to cover the Olympics. The money will also pay for overtime of officers who work extra hours in their own departments to cover for the borrowed officers.
"When it comes time to reimburse them, (money) is our primary concern," said David Tubbs, executive director of the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command.
Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse told Hatch he was concerned about having enough money to adequately train the roughly 3,500 officers who'll work the Games.
"Training is key," Dinse said. "We need all the opportunity we can to train, and that is a fiscal issue."
But despite money concerns, Hatch praised Salt Lake Organizing Committee President Mitt Romney for organizing a "fiscally conscious" Games.
"I have really appreciated that," Hatch said.
Utah's total Olympic budget is about $1.3 billion, paltry compared to the $5 billion Sydney spent on the 2000 Summer Games, Romney said.
Atlanta spent $2 billion on the 1996 Olympics, and the last two Winter Games budgets in Nagano and Lillehammer totalled $2.6 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively.
Despite the slim budget, Romney told Hatch, "We believe we can have Games that are just as spectacular in their effect on the heart."
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