Dallas city officials put a final price tag on hosting the Republican National Convention at $804,229.46, a bill the city has absorbed in its own budget with no reimbursement from organizers two months after the event wrapped. Now four Dallas City Council members are demanding an audit to find out who, if anyone, is on the hook to pay it back.
Council members Paul Ridley, Adam Bazaldua, Paula Blackmon and Bill Roth requested the audit into the city’s handling of the convention’s public-safety expenses, according to The Dallas Morning News. The council members asked the city auditor to determine who is responsible for ensuring Dallas gets reimbursed, and who authorized a special event permit for the two-day gathering without collecting an upfront deposit to cover extra public-safety costs. Dallas Police and Fire-Rescue together incurred more than $800,000 in costs tied to the convention, per the same reporting.
The final figure came in well under earlier projections. A city memorandum dated October 26 put total convention-related costs at $804,229.46, calling the sum substantially lower than preliminary planning estimates discussed with the Finance Committee in August, according to a City of Dallas memorandum. That September 3 memo had estimated roughly $1.8 million for Dallas Police alone, plus $200,000 for Fire-Rescue and $25,000 each for emergency management and transportation and public works — though the city cautioned at the time that those were only planning estimates, not final costs. NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth had reported that early estimate of $1.8 million for police costs before the final police tally came in at $661,335.11.
City Says Budget Already Covered Most of the Cost
City officials said the overwhelming majority of the expenses were on-duty personnel costs already accounted for within adopted departmental budgets, according to the city memo. Dallas council members said the city had received no money for convention spending, and officials have said they still intend to recoup the expenses. Dallas issued a special event permit to manage street closures and traffic for the two-day event, which took place in September, and American Airlines Center — a city-owned facility that books its own events — hosted the gathering itself…