Total OT cost to A.C. for pageant: $400,000

ATLANTIC CITY - Guarding stunning women didn't come cheap for this struggling resort.

Making sure the 53 Miss America contestants were safe and sound cost more than a quarter of a million dollars just in police overtime during the nearly two weeks they were shuttled around town last month.

The total overtime tab for police, fire, and emergency management security for the City of Atlantic City to put on Miss America, from the time the contestants arrived Sept. 3 to the lead-up to the big parade and pageant weekend on Sept. 14 and 15, was $399,524.21.

That doesn't include an additional $100,000 in lumber, snow fencing, and other costs to improve the Boardwalk, according to city officials, that were being made regardless of Miss America's return, and $2,000 in incremental, pageant-related costs.

But for a city that's seeking to woo tourists and repair its image as a resort, the cost was "well worth it," said Ron Cash, business administrator for Atlantic City, who defended what he said were the administration's efforts to put on the best show possible. He spoke on behalf of Mayor Lorenzo Langford, who was out of the area Tuesday.

"Miss America belongs in Atlantic City, and many of us that work in this administration remember it as kids and the goodwill it brings," he said. "In terms of bringing in additional business, we don't know that yet. But it's good for the shoulder season after the summertime when we need people coming here."

Cash and Michael Stinson, the city's director of revenue and finance, provided a spreadsheet copy of the 2013 Miss America Pageant costs on Tuesday.

"We had an extensive security plan in play," Cash said.

"The majority [of the cost] was for the weekend Saturday parade and the actual Sunday pageant," Stinson added. "We also had preliminaries that week and different public appearances for the contestants."

Total overtime among regular police, Class II officers, and civilian police was $233,112.96, or 58 percent of the nearly $400,000 tab.

The second largest expense, $142,256.84, went to public works for repairs to the Boardwalk, including getting it ready for the parade and work during the pageant's two-week run.

Miss America was a substantial investment. Under a three-year contract, the pageant received $7.3 million in subsidies, mostly from the tax on the casinos' gross gaming revenue. This year marked Miss America's return after eight years in Las Vegas, and her homecoming generated widespread coverage.

During their nearly two weeks here, the pageant contestants often traveled in groups of five or six, and with security detail at every public appearance.

Cash said the "Show Us Your Shoes" parade on Sept. 14 required extensive security details and coordination with emergency management over the three-mile Boardwalk.

There were costs associated with videotaping and securing the parade, which attracted more than 200,000 people, he said. Bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in the weeks leading up to the parade and right before it, and the area under the Boardwalk, where the homeless often congregate, was cordoned off for two weeks.

Staff from the Fire Department had to be present for the entire parade, from 5 to 9 p.m., in case of an emergency. They billed 218 hours in overtime at a cost to the city of nearly $19,000, mostly from the parade and having fire-prevention specialists stationed at Boardwalk Hall every night of the pageant.

"We're grateful for the effort by state, federal, and local officials in working with us," Cash said. "We'll do an even better job next year.

"As far as building social capital and getting the word out that the city is back, we believe Miss America was the perfect venue for bringing people back in. It's consistent with what we've been trying to do here, which is, clean and safe. That's what we delivered. The whole city looked clean and safe."

"We think the whole city shined during the whole two weeks," Stinson said. "We did not hear any complaints."

But the majority of the city's dozen casinos, which provided most of the subsidy to bring Miss America back, did not benefit financially from the pageant's return.

Figures released Thursday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement showed the gambling halls here declined 12.9 percent in casino revenue in September, to $240.2 million compared with September 2012.

Of the dozen casinos, 11 reported revenue declines. Only the Atlantic Club showed an increase.

"We really have to wait and see what kind of bounce we get from Miss America," said State Sen. James Whelan (D., Atlantic), a former mayor of Atlantic City, after meeting with the Inquirer Editorial Board on Tuesday with his Second District challenger, Atlantic County Sheriff Frank Balles. "Is it just the one-shot TV show, or was the positive publicity worth it?

"It always was an expensive proposition," Whelan said of the pageant. "When I was mayor, we were well above $200,000 in overtime for police, fire, and security."

Whelan left the mayor's office in December 2001. Langford first took office in January 2002.

856-779-3928 @SuzParmley