Cost of security during papal visit

cost el paso taxpayers. abc-7’s maria garcia is live with details. pope francis’s february 17th visit was a massive event. had he set foot on u-s soil – federal authorities would have been responsible for security. but because he was feet away in mexico – el paso police had to handle security and logistics. and local police say it was a big learning experience. city rep. lily limon wanted a debriefing today on the big event last february. the city had budgeted about 903 thousand dollars. the total cost ended up being about 933- thousand dollars. that’s how much the city would want to get reimbursed by fema had this event been a natural disaster. because it’s also counting costs like overtime, planning hours, and wear and tear on vehicles. the police department spent about 522-thousand dollars. police officials assured the council they are now better equipped to handle such a big event: “we had to look at circumstance that were pretty much out of our control. and had to react to that particular event based on the potential of threat that it might pose to the individual namely the pope” limon read a letter from the secret service commending the police department for how it handled the visit. the department did get criticized for closing the border highway to spectators of the pal mass. but police insisted it was too risky to make it a viewing area. and maria, we just want to take a few moments to let everyone watching that today is your last day with us here at abc-seven. you and your family are moving up to new york city where you’ll work on a masters degree in journalism at columbia.