VANCOUVER -- The top cop for the 2010 Winter Olympics says a billion-dollar price tag for Games security is too high.
But RCMP Assistant Commissioner Bud Mercer told The Canadian Press that he can't discuss the actual security budget for the Games until both the federal and provincial governments sign off.
The original lowball budget for securing the Games was $175 million but Mercer submitted a new one upon taking his job in the fall of 2007.
The billion dollar ceiling for the budget was floated by former Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day in the fall.
That federal ministry and the B.C. government have been negotiating for more than a year over who pays what.
Meanwhile, Mercer says planning continues and he's trying to keep his team focused on that and not the politics around making the Games more secure.
