Romney believes that only the federal dollars going directly to support the Games, for things like security and temporary parking lots, should be counted, and he puts that sum at $350 million. "If someone wants to count the completion of a highway project in Utah as an Olympic project--which, by the way, was not requested by the Olympics, isn't needed by the Olympics, has nothing to do with the Olympics...if you call that an Olympic project, well, yeah, you can get federal dollars to be huge," Romney says. "It's kind of hard to call [highway construction] an Olympic project."
To the contrary--it's quite easy, as Utah's leaders have proved. Every member of the state's congressional delegation, mayors and public officials from across Utah, and Salt Lake Games boosters (including SLOC trustees) wrapped themselves in the Olympic flag when pleading for federal funds for highway, public transit and other projects. They did so time after time. As Tom Dolan, mayor of Sandy City, Utah, testified to a House subcommittee in March 1997, when asking for funds to help pay for highway work: "Every person attending the 2002 Olympics in any capacity must travel on either Interstate 15 or Interstate 80 at some point. The primary importance of these two interstates to the smooth operation and security of the Olympics has been emphasized already."
That Utah officials used the Games to extract transportation dollars from Washington was widely reported in the state. As the Deseret News noted on March 9, 1997, "Olympic organizers said there's nothing wrong with telling Congress that every project on Utah's $4.3 billion list [of requested funding for all kinds of projects] is needed for the Winter Games, even though their own must-do projects on that list only total $55 million."
To get an idea of how difficult it can be to determine the amount of money being spent, consider the federal cost of building temporary parking lots for the Olympics. The GAO included the lots in a $77 million estimate for "spectator transportation" for the Games without specifying how much was allocated for the lots. Utah's Olympic Officer says the U.S. government contributed $31 million for the lots. The Utah Department of Transportation, which is building them, puts the federal share at $23 million--for now. A spokesperson for the department cautions, "Obviously, we won't have final costs until all park-and-ride/walk lots are 100 percent completed and/or restored."
Translation: Although the cost will be more, exactly how much more remains unknown.
Utah senator Robert Bennett, apparently seeking to head off criticism of his state's spending of federal dollars on theGames, in August asked the GAO--which in September 2000 estimated Games-related federal spending at $1.3 billion--to prepare a new audit of expenditures on Salt Lake and past U.S.-hosted Olympics. The audit, which was released by Bennett's office last week, put the amount of federal aid at $342 million, but it included only direct outlays for the Games and thus excluded much of the federal money secured in the name of the Olympics.
Bennett's press secretary, Mary Jane Collipriest, in disputing SI's numbers, said the first GAO report contained "errors" and the new audit gives a more accurate picture. Bennett issued a statement saying, "As I've continually said, the 2002 Games are America's Games, not just Salt Lake City's, and the participation of the U.S. government is not only an appropriate responsibility, but a privilege."
*FIGURES ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION
U.S. spending at the 2002 Games will average $625,000 per athlete, a 5,582% jump from '84.
Few will get to appreciate the murals; it's hard to study them while whizzing by at 65 mph.
Surprisingly, all but $40 million of the $240 million in security spending was approved before Sept. 11.
It's worth noting that for the '32 Lake Placid Games, local and state folks footed the entire bill.
Utah's five-member Congressional delegation has been well-positioned to funnel pork back home.
In his land swap, Holding gave the U.S. cheap acreage that is largely remote, even inaccessible.
U.S. taxpayers don't pay to build parking lots for Super Bowl cities or fund NBA drug testing.
