Security for bank
summit cost city,
state $3.8 million

The city will seek repayment
from the federal government

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By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

The Honolulu Police Department spent $3 million to train and provide security for the Asian Development Bank meeting held at the Hawaii Convention Center May 7-11.

The department spent $540,376 for riot gear, of which $525,000 was reimbursed by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, said Deputy Police Chief Boisse Correa during yesterday's Council Planning and Public Safety Committee meeting.

State agencies reported spending $846,094 on security and related expenses for the ADB. Those agencies include the attorney general's office, Hawaii Tourism Authority, Hawaii National Guard, the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Transportation.

That brings the total security cost for hosting the ADB conference to $3,861,470.

The governor's office will be submitting the tab to U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye this week to seek reimbursement from the federal government.

Whatever amount HPD receives from the federal government will go into the city's general fund since the money -- split evenly between regular salaries and overtime -- was covered by the HPD's fiscal year 2001 personnel budget.

"We did receive assurances that we were going to be reimbursed, right?" City Councilman John Henry Felix asked Correa.

"No, we did not," Correa answered.

State officials expected the ADB to boost Hawaii's economy by $17 million and the convention center's image as a venue for similar international bank meetings.

"Sounds like everybody benefited except the city, and we got left holding the bag," said Councilman Duke Bainum. "We were told the feds were going to help us; we were told the state was going to help us. Where is that help? Maybe we need to collect up front from the state."

Honolulu police had expected to spend up to $6 million for the meeting.

"We were very lucky. Some of the people (protest groups) who said they were going to come here did not come," said Correa, who was in charge of coordinating Honolulu police security for the ADB. "There were a lot of things happening behind the scenes that we prevented and we stopped and suppressed before they could get off the ground."

But he warned Council members that if a larger international bank organization meets in Hawaii, the cost for providing security could easily quadruple.