Arlington gets reimbursed money from SB XLV - Ingles

The city expects to be fully reimbursed $2.7 million from a special state trust fund this week for public safety, ice and snow removal, and other costs related to hosting Super Bowl XLV.

About half those expenses, roughly $1.3 million, went to pay salaries and overtime for police and firefighters to secure Cowboys Stadium and the city's entertainment district for the Feb. 6 game. Another $136,000 paid for snowplows and other equipment and materials to help the city keep streets and sidewalks around the stadium and the city airport's runway clear for the thousands of visitors.

North Texas was hit with historic icy weather during the week of the Super Bowl. The storms left the Metroplex covered in a compacted layer of ice followed by 3 inches of snow, paralyzing traffic and closing schools for four days.

City officials expect to deposit the check, worth more than 1 percent of Arlington's $200 million general fund budget, from the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee and the Major Events Trust Fund sometime this week.

"It does make us whole. We are not out any expenditures," Deputy City Manager Trey Yelverton said.

The cities of Arlington, Fort Worth, Irving, Dallas and the Super Bowl host committee could receive as much as $31.2 million total from the state's Major Events Trust Fund, which is managed by the Texas Comptroller's Office and is designed to help cities land major tax-generating events, such as a Super Bowl or a national political convention.

Irving was reimbursed about $764,000, and Dallas is expected to be reimbursed about $3 million, comptroller spokesman R.J. DeSilva said. The host committee has submitted a request, which is still under review, but the dollar amount of that request was not available Monday.

While the majority of Arlington's expenses were for public safety, traffic and public works salaries, the city also made infrastructure improvements throughout the entertainment district that will be in place long after the game, officials said.

Those improvements include more than $91,000 to upgrade pedestrian "walk" buttons and traffic signals and intersections as well as about $98,000 in special storm sewer inlet covers and locking manhole covers designed to improve security around the sports venues.

"If you have some legacy items, like infrastructure improvements, that is part of the benefit of hosting the event," Yelverton said.

The city also spent some money to clean up the entertainment district, including street sweeping and more than $9,000 for code compliance officers to make sure people weren't parking in yards, scalping tickets or selling counterfeit Super Bowl merchandise.

"We're responsible for a clean, safe environment. Those things are part of the experience," Yelverton said.

The city of Fort Worth, which hosted ESPN's national broadcasts as well as the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers, was reimbursed nearly $2.3 million for its Super Bowl-related expenses in June.

About $1.8 million of that went to police and fire payroll, officials said. Other expenses included office supplies and equipment, van rentals, Internet and cable installation and more than 7,600 pansies to brighten up downtown, documents show.

"The city of Fort Worth received its reimbursement in full, and we're pleased with how everything turned out," said spokesman Jason Lamers, adding that Fort Worth received "priceless exposure" during the ESPN broadcasts downtown.

Fort Worth also received reimbursement for some expenses associated with the new emergency operations center near City Hall, which was used for the first time during Super Bowl week. Cameras placed throughout downtown helped public safety, traffic and public works officials identify and address situations, such as congested streets and a water main break near Sundance Square, during Super Bowl week, Lamers said.

"All the technology we had put into the new emergency operations center did a great job to help protect citizens and improve the situation," Lamers said. This article was written by Susan Schrock and appeared in The Fort Worth Star Telegram.