The public was told policing of the 2010 Games would cost $900 million, but the officer in charge of Olympic security in Vancouver says he's under budget.
In an email to CTV News, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Bud Mercer says he's now received and paid all the bills from the 120 agencies involved in policing the Games. He has not yet confirmed how far under budget his unit is.
That budget paid for 6,000 officers, 4,500 members of the Canadian military and 5,000 contracted private security employees.
Although the final tally has not yet been released, CTV News has obtained the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit's budget forecast. That report predicts what the ISU would spend and where the money would specifically go.
The final predicted policing cost of $558 million does not include the military's portion, which has yet to be announced.
"The budget is built beforehand. They would talk to security people from other Games to give themselves an idea," former RCMP investigator Bill Majher said.
"However, the day the rubber meets the road and there is some crisis going on, the last thing a police commander is thinking about is budget dollars."
In all, $15 million was allotted to the RCMPs intelligence-gathering group to monitor well known activists. The joint intelligence group also had a secret fund of $700,000 earmarked to pay informants.
Nearly $5 million was set aside to protect VIPs, and $93 million for private security.
Police also had to pay for ski and boot rentals, as well as warming huts for officers assigned to the mountain regions.
The budget included $4.6 million for fences that skirted the Olympic venues, and $71,000 for trimming trees that might have blocked the view for security officials.
The ISU had to revise the amount it estimated for overtime, travel and training.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington
