Your Bill for Jackson Memorial: $1.4 Million
Zine: open books on Jackson memorial
Updated 6:04 PM PST, Wed, Jul 8, 2009
The total taxpayer expense of providing city services for the Michael Jackson memorial tribute at Staples Center was $1.4 million, according to a Twitter post by Matt Szabo, spokesman for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
The city's chief legislative analyst had estimated earlier that the taxpayer cost could be as high as $3.8 million, according to City Councilman Dennis Zine.
Szabo also said the city has collected more than $17,000 in donations from people who wanted to contribute to the cost of the event.
The price tag, although less than estimated, came under fire from Zine, who demanded an audit of the city's spending.
He said he plans to ask Controller Wendy Greuel to examine the books, determine how much taxpayer money was used to secure the streets around Staples Center, and who signed off on it.
"Who made the approval? Who authorized all this?" Zine said.
Greuel herself had expressed concerns about the cost even before the memorial began.
In a letter to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Council President Eric Garcetti and Councilman Bernard Parks, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee -- dated the eve of the memorial -- she said, "we need to avoid spending any taxpayer funds without reimbursement."
Greuel urged the officials to "move quickly to create a clear, coherent city policy that dictates who is financially responsible when an extraordinary event such as the Michael Jackson memorial takes place ... to protect our scarce resources during this budget crisis."
Meanwhile, the mayor's Twitter page contains a posting saying that so many Jackson fans have offered to help the city recoup its costs for the memorial that the website for donations couldn't cope.
"#MJ link back up! Sorry, overwhelming response from fans brought down our city servers. Donate to Michael's memorial at http://bit.ly/ABdlp," tweeted Szabo.
Tax-deductible donations may be made through the mayor's official website, which accepts all major credit cards and PayPal, and gives instructions for sending a check payable to the "City of Los Angeles."
Copyright City News Service / NBC Los Angeles
First Published: Jul 8, 2009 12:51 PM PST
You Might Like
You have 2000 characters left
