MANHATTAN — The cost of security for the Manhattan trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will top $200 million a year, the Bloomberg administration has estimated.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg sent a letter this week to Peter Orszag, head of the federal Office of Management and Budget, that detailed potential security costs to the city, the New York Times said. Bloomberg wants the city to be reimbursed for the expenses.
According to the mayor's letter, it will cost $216 million in the first year, and $206 million per year thereafter. Most of that money would be used for personnel; equipment would cost $12.5 million in the first year and $2.5 million thereafter, the Times reported.
"We do not have the resources available to provide the protection needed absent federal funding,” the NYPD's top spokesman, Paul Browne, told the Times.
Tom Gavin, spokesman for OMB, responded to the Times: “We recognize the federal government’s responsibility in this matter, and we will meet them.”
