HOUSTON – Harris County officials have asked the Houston Super Bowl Committee to reimburse the county for unexpected costs for Super Bowl LI security.
The county generally expected to shoulder the costs of security expenses for the large-scale event and did not negotiate to be reimbursed for a majority of its expenses.
"We knew that there would be some cost to bringing the Super Bowl here because it's a benefit to the community," said Harris County's chief executive officer Judge Ed Emmett. "We understand that, but there were some extraordinary pieces."
"The county agreed in a resolution in 2013 to provide law enforcement and security services at no cost to the NFL and the Houston Superbowl Host committee," said Houston Super Bowl host committee chief of staff Chris Newport.
The county shouldered around $1.3 million in costs in taxpayer money. Judge Emmett said that roughly $460,000 were costs associated mostly with the cost of security detail for the two teams -- a cost that was not previously planned.
"The NFL had agreed to pay for the security at the two team hotels, and we've got to be sure to get that back," said Judge Emmett.
Meanwhile, the city of Houston was able to negotiate for reimbursements for all of its expected costs.
"We anticipated that the cost would be around $5.5 million and, quite frankly, we were able to get paid before [the Super Bowl] left," said Sylvester Turner. "We negotiated ahead of time, we agreed to terms and we also wanted our money before they left."
Newport said the host committee will take on the county's request and consider returning part if not all the money, despite not having a contractual agreement.
"It would not have been the success it was without [the county's] partnership," said Newport. "The host committee is absolutely committed to defraying most if not all of the costs."
Emmett said the county should make it a common practice to negotiate ways to access revenue from big events like the Super Bowl since the events take place in a stadium that belongs to tax payers.
"In the future, I have to remind people -- the county doesn't get any sales tax--and they play it in our stadium yet the city gets hundreds of millions in sales tax revenue," said Judge Emmett. "So, I hope in the future there will be a serious negotiation about maintaining and upgrading the stadium with some of that revenue."
The host committee said it needs to take care of its contractual obligations first before seeing what they will be able to reimburse the county, if at all. Emmett said he expects the county will receive some of its money back.