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City Has $400,000 Left Over From Super Bowl Account

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By KEITH MORELLI

kmorelli@tampatrib.com

Published: March 18, 2009

TAMPA - The $1 million set aside by the city to pay for things like law enforcement, fire rescue and transportation issues during the Super Bowl last month wasn't all spent, and city officials announced today that more than $400,000 remains in the coffers.

The money will be returned to the general fund, said Santiago Corrada, Neighborhood Services coordinator with the city.

Mayor Pam Iorio pledged the $1 million city contribution in 2005 when the National Football League granted Tampa's bid for Super Bowl XLIII, held at Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 1.

For months before the game, the city spruced itself up, planting shrubs and trees along interstate exits and in highway medians and getting portable signs in place to direct traffic to the myriad of events that took place over the weeks before the game.

All that was paid for out of the city's Super Bowl earmark, Corrada said, but when it was all tallied, $425,000 out of the $1 million remained in the city's purse.

The city's actual costs totaled $573,448 with nearly 68 percent, or $390,337, spent on public safety services by the Tampa Police Department and Tampa Fire Rescue.

Some of the public safety costs will be reimbursed by the NFL, Corrada said. All the costs of police and fire rescue personnel on the stadium grounds and at the NFL Experience is subject for reimbursement from the league, he said.

Plus, all the new shrubbery and trees dressing up the roadsides are subject to reimbursement from the state Department of Transportation, he said.

Not only did the city not spend all that was in its wallet, but it also raked in some cash as well.

The parking division collected $221,000 in additional parking revenue at NFL events throughout the city. The parks and recreation department counted $25,000 from parking at Al Lopez Park alone on game day. The Department Of Solid Waste brought in $25,000 through increased recycling and additional commercial collections.

The pledge of $1 million four years ago seemed at the time appropriate, Corrada said.

"That estimate was based on what we had spent on the prior Super Bowl," he said. "It was under a million, but it was close."

Then, the economy crashed.

"When we were awarded the bid," he said, "We all were in a different place financially. We thought $1 million was a generous amount to allocate."

As the years went by and the economy slumped, city officials went to work to see how best to spend the allocation.

"The biggest example of cutting corners is the modification of work hours," he said, "making sure personnel was assigned to the right place during the right hours and that included police and fire."

City officials made sure to check to see whether any of their expenditures could be reimbursed down the road, like roadside improvements and some portable traffic signs.

"It all went according to plan," he said.

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760.

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