City's Race Tab Infuriates Mayor

Organizers Back Off Plan to Cover All Security, Traffic Costs

D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams angrily complained yesterday that he "looks like an idiot" because organizers of a regional marathon scheduled for tomorrow are no longer picking up all of the District's security costs for the event.

"I stood up there and basically told the public no public funds would be used," Williams (D) said on WTOP radio's "Ask the Mayor" program yesterday morning.

He made that assurance after organizers said they would pay for security. They probably will pick up only part of the tab, which city officials estimated last week would be about $200,000.

"Now either you knew public funds were being used and didn't let me know. Somebody didn't let me know," Williams said of the race organizers. "Or you didn't know that public funds were being used because you didn't know how these things were normally charged and reimbursed, which is inexcusable, because you shouldn't be running a major marathon if you don't have your act together at that minimum level of competence."

District officials have long sought to bring a new marathon to town, and the National Marathon has drawn about 2,100 entries for the 26.2-mile event and an accompanying 13.1-mile race. The event, which is being organized by the Greater Washington Sports Alliance, begins at RFK Stadium at 6:58 a.m. and winds its way through the District and Prince George's County before returning to RFK.

At the mayor's weekly news conference March 15, Fernando Murias, chairman of the sports group, said the alliance would pay security and traffic control costs associated with the race.

Days later, however, city officials disclosed that the organizers would cover only about one-third of those expenses. The controversy was first reported by WTOP on Tuesday.

Williams told the radio station yesterday morning that he thought the marathon was a good idea and noted that the city often picks up the partial costs of festivals and other major events. The city generally helps pay if the activities are deemed in the interest of D.C. residents, the mayor said.

The mayor said he was mostly upset because he felt that he and others had misled the public about who was financing the event's traffic and security patrols. He added that it would do more harm than good to withdraw support for the marathon at this point.

Robert Sweeney, president of the sports alliance, said the organizers believed they would be able to finance all of the police expenses because city officials told the group last year that it would cost about $65,000. A few day before last week's news conference, Sweeney said, the alliance received a new invoice, which put the cost at about $230,000.

All told, staging the marathon will cost about $750,000, he said.

Murias, who is the managing partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, did not know about the new invoice, Sweeney said.

Sweeney, who attended the March 15 news conference, added that he "possibly should have said something at the time" about the new bill but that he didn't understand the circumstances surrounding it. He said the alliance and city will work out the final bill after the race.

In his budget submitted to the D.C. Council this week, Williams requested a $200,000 grant for the sports alliance, which could be used to help fund the next marathon. The mayor said he would not consider cutting that funding to help finance security this year or to punish organizers. He said he wants the marathon to become a major event.