Chicago sends $3.2 M bill to NATO host committee

Chicago hopes to recoup costs spent on security during the NATO summit earlier this year.
Chicago hopes to recoup costs spent on security during the NATO summit earlier this year. WBEZ/Jason Reblando
Chicago hopes to recoup costs spent on security during the NATO summit earlier this year.
Chicago hopes to recoup costs spent on security during the NATO summit earlier this year. WBEZ/Jason Reblando

Chicago sends $3.2 M bill to NATO host committee

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Chicago hopes to recoup costs spent on security and worker overtime during the NATO summit earlier this year. (WBEZ/Jason Reblando)
The City of Chicago on Friday sent NATO summit organizers a bill topping $3 million to pay for security, overtime for city workers and room and board for out-of-state cops who helped wrangle protesters during May’s world meeting.

The $3.2 million reimbursement request to the Chicago NATO Host Committee is the second the city has made, bringing the itemized public tally for the summit so far to nearly $18.8 million.

Organizers originally estimated it would cost about $39 million for Chicago to host the two-day meeting of world leaders, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office has said that estimate turned out to be about right. The city plans to disclose the rest of its itemized receipts when it makes other reimbursement requests over the next month, a mayoral spokeswoman said Friday.

The largest chunk of Friday’s request - $1.14 million - is for overtime for city workers and extra Chicago Transit Authority staff who were needed to deal with increased ridership. More than $922,000 went to Illinois State Police and officers from other jurisdictions within the state who helped with security.

The city also spent more than $630,000 to pay overtime and traveling costs for cops from Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., who came here to bolster security. The city spent another $374,292 to board the officers at the University of Illinois-Chicago and to use the school’s parking lots, and fed them $71,056 worth of food from the Salvation Army, according to the mayor’s office.

The mayor’s office reiterated that all of the up-front NATO costs will ultimately be reimbursed by the federal government and the host committee, which raised money from private donors.

In late June, Chicago sent a handful of letters to federal and state agencies detailing more than $15.5 million in costs. The vast majority of that — more than $14.6 million — went toward police overtime. Chicago cops worked 12-hour shifts during the summit to boost manpower for dealing with protesters.