District taxpayers have doled out more than $1 million to pick up the tab for police protection at festivals, parades, races and other events that was supposed to be paid by organizations running the functions, according to documents obtained by The Washington Examiner. City officials continue to quietly cover the security fees stipulated in agreements for various events despite a budget crunch that has the city looking for dollars to keep roofs over the homeless and add police officers to a strained force, records show. In some cases the money comes from a special fund, and in others the fees are just waived.
Last weekend, the District gave $30,000 to the Caribbean Day parade from a $175,000 community event fund. In 2010, the same fund covered $321,000 in police department costs, including $176,000 for the Caribbean Day parade, and $28,000 for Capital Pride, a festival celebrating the city’s gay community.
| Top 5 organizations receiving cash for police from the community events fund in 2010: |
| $176,000 — Caribbean Day parade |
| $28,000 — Capital Pride festival |
| $24,000 — Adams Morgan Day Festival |
| $20,000 — Bike for Your Heart |
| $19,000 — St. Patrick’s Day Parade |
| Top 5 organizations whose police bills were waived from 2008-2010: |
| $485,000 — 2009/2010 SunTust National Marathon |
| $58,000 — 2009/2010 Cherry Blossom Festival Parade |
| $29,000 — 2008/2010 Capital Criterium |
| $25,000 — 2008/2010 Oyster Adams 5k |
| $18,000 — 2009/2010 Capital Cluster 10k |
| Sources: Internal city documents and D.C. homeland security |
| (Note: The Washington Examiner provided in-kind support for the 2009 and 2010 Cherry Blossom Festival Parade) |
When groups get permission for events, they are told they’ll receive an invoice from the Metropolitan Police Department covering security costs. Those invoices are sent by the MPD, but groups often manage to avoid those charges by appealing to city officials, records show.
“There’s a policy for when costs are absorbed by the [community event] fund,” at-large D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson said. “Whatever is left should get paid.”
But that doesn’t always happen, according to records.
Since 2008, the city has waived more than $732,000 in police department fees, including $485,000 for the SunTrust National Marathon and $58,000 for the Cherry Blossom Parade.
Meanwhile, the Caribbean Day parade picked up its payment from the community event fund this year despite being on the hook for a $55,000 police tab from 2010 and facing a new, $255,000 bill for this year, city officials confirmed.
A police department source said the bills will be waived. A spokeswoman for Mayor Vincent Gray said, “We expect them to pay both bills.” Parade organizers did not return calls for comment.
Police union chief Kris Baumann said if the Caribbean Parade bill isn’t paid, it will be “nothing more than an executive earmark — Gray ran against [former Mayor Adrian] Fenty for exactly this type of misconduct.”
Records show that Fenty’s office waived 12 of 17 police bills for events from 2008 to 2010.
Millicent West, who heads the city’s homeland security agency, said a task force led by her department that includes officials from the mayor’s office, and the D.C., park and U.S. Capitol police, determines which groups get a piece of the community events fund.
“The funding is used to offset the costs of city services,” West said.
Council members are reluctant to question the spending of city dollars on neighborhood events that often benefit them politically.
Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser suggested the city should do more for the Caribbean parade after the route was cut short. A letter sent from the mayor’s office to event organizers in May shows the parade couldn’t afford its traditional path.
“A lot of people come from out of town for the parade and spend a lot of money,” Bowser told The Examiner. “There are a lot of Caribbean-American people who feel strongly about it.”
