Pulse cost estimates exceed $2M so far, records show
Two dozen governments, public agencies and a hospital have spent more than $2 million so far in the aftermath of the massacre last month at Pulse nightclub, according to estimates collected by the city of Orlando.
That figure was released Monday in response to a public-records request from the Orlando Sentinel, the same day Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer gave his annual budget address to the City Council.
Dyer noted that the city alone spent nearly $600,000 on Pulserelated expenses through July 7, the bulk of it to cover about 7,000 overtime hours worked by staff and police in the weeks after the June 12 mass shooting.
“The term ‘above and beyond’ doesn’t even begin to describe the way our employees rose to the challenge when crisis and chaos visited our city,” Dyer said.
The figures are likely to grow, officials said.
For example, the $600,000 estimate doesn’t include the cost of establishing the Orlando United Assistance Center, a service hub for the Pulse victims and their families on East Michigan Street.
Other than overtime, Orlando’s largest expense was about $49,000 for a temporary victim-assistance center at Camping World Stadium,
later replaced by the Michigan Street facility.
Costs for Orlando Regional Medical Center, which treated most of the victims, were estimated around $632,000, while several Orange County departments estimated costs in the tens of thousands. Florida Hospital estimates were not included.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office’s expenses were pegged around $54,000, while the Florida Highway Patrol’s costs were estimated at more than $89,000.
Some local agencies are seeking federal grants to cover their expenses. Dyer said about half of the city’s costs have already been reimbursed by such funding.
The mayor told city commissioners Monday that Orlando was well prepared for the mass shooting at Pulse, in which 49 people were killed and more than 50 injured, because of its substantial emergency reserves and its wellfunded public-safety agencies.
In fact, during his budget address, Dyer said police and fire-rescue personnel account for more than half of general fund expenditures in the proposed $1.17 billion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year. The city will have a pair of public hearings on the budget in September.
Commissioners on Monday voted unanimously to keep the city’s property tax rate at $6.65 per $1,000 of taxable value. The rate last increased in 2014. Total tax bills can still rise, however, because of increasing property values.
The City Council acted on several other topics Monday, including:
Approval of a temporary moratorium on medicalmarijuana dispensaries within the city. Officials say they want to consider zoning changes to limit where in the city dispensaries could eventually set up shop.
The temporary ban, which expires Dec. 31, comes as voters are again set to weigh in on broadening the use of medical marijuana on the November ballot and as the state’s first marijuana dispensary is set to open today in Tallahassee.
Approval of new zoning rules aimed at luring microbreweries, brew pubs and other craft-beer makers to the city, by loosening location restrictions that some said forced them into industrial areas.
Rejection of an appeal by Lake Nona-area residents who oppose the planned Vista Park development, which would see thousands of homes built atop a former World War II-era bombing range. Opponents said they plan to continue to fight the project as it moves through the final planning process.
Approval of the final zoning change needed to convert Constitution Green downtown into a public park. Orlando this year purchased the park for $5.85 million from its longtime private owners, who were considering developing it.