Police spent $3.5 million on ADB security
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Honolulu should insist that the federal government pay the security costs of any future large-scale meetings like the Asian Development Bank conference, some city officials said yesterday after learning that the five-day event in May cost the police department more than $3.5 million.
72,000 regular hours: $1,500,000 46,000 overtime hours: $1,500,000 Equipment, training, site visits: $540,376 Total: $3,540,376 Source: Honolulu Police Department
"It sounds like everybody benefited except the city," Councilman Duke Bainum said. "We got left holding the bag, and it's not full of money."
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ADB conference police expenses
Serving as host city to a larger conference, such as the World Trade Organization's, could cost four times as much because the security risk would be greater, Assistant Police Chief Boisse Correa told the City Council's Planning and Public Safety Committee.
State and city officials and U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye are asking that the U.S. Treasury Department, which sponsored the ADB conference, reimburse Honolulu for the cost. But the federal government is not obligated to provide any assistance.
"We're not sure where it's going to go, but we're hoping for the best in terms of reimbursement," Correa said.
Salaries for police officers assigned to the ADB conference totaled $1.5 million, while overtime added $1.5 million more, he said.
"We streamlined as much as possible, to the bare bones," Correa said. "We trained people on regular duty, not overtime."
Riot gear, barricades and other special equipment and training cost an additional $540,376, he said, but much of the equipment, such as respirators, will wear out and must be discarded or replaced in three to five years.
Correa said his department is now one of the best-trained in the nation for events like the ADB conference, however, and could now train other departments if called upon.
The conference cost other city departments more than $314,000, according to city spokeswoman Carol Costa. That includes $146,300 for the Honolulu Fire Department and $87,000 for the Department of Facilities Maintenance, she said, but costs for the Emergency Services Department are not yet available.
The state's Hawai'i Tourism Authority spent about $2.1 million on the conference, but $380,000 of that total was provided by private businesses, agency chief executive Robert Fishman said. The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism has estimated that people who attended the conference spent $15 million while they were here.
Councilman John Henry Felix said the city should still welcome high-profile international meetings.
"We look forward to holding other like conferences, but we want to be reimbursed," he said.
Bainum said that while Honolulu had done an excellent job preparing for the ADB conference and keeping it peaceful, he finds it unfair that the city is stuck with the bill.
"We don't have a way to collect this money," he said. "It's disturbing and frustrating."
Gov. Ben Cayetano said that a reimbursement guarantee may be worth pursuing for future events in Hawai'i, but that security concerns about the ADB conference may have been overblown.
"Getting assurance for reimbursement of security costs should be taken into consideration, but it's one of many factors," he said. "From the beginning, I believed there was too much emphasis on security for the ADB meeting."
Correa said the federal government typically reimburses other cities about half their costs for similar events.
Seattle had originally agreed to be the host city for the ADB conference but declined after the Treasury Department would not agree to pay for security.
Serious riots in Seattle during the World Trade Organization's 1999 conference cost that city and surrounding suburbs about $13 million, and the federal government eventually chipped in about $5 million, an aide to Seattle Mayor Paul Schell said in May.
Honolulu police yesterday also defended the rising cost of the city's new digital communications system. The network, which connects officers with dispatchers and each other, cost just under $20 million when installed in 1998. But work to correct problems and expand the system has driven its price up to more than $33 million, and the city plans to spend about $7 million more to replace or upgrade radios now considered obsolete.
"I think what we have to look at is the long view," Police Chief Lee Donohue said. "For the welfare of the community and the welfare of officers, it certainly is worth it."
