Halloween costs city more than $65,000; OU still waiting on bill

The uptown Halloween party in Athens this year cost the city about $65,536, Mayor Paul Wiehl told City Council members Monday night.

This figure represents the expenses of all departments, but does not take into account revenue from food vendors and others, he said. He estimated about $5,000 or $6,000 coming from the vendors. He didn't know how much the city would receive from the second-year beer garden this year, but did say he doesn't expect much, or that it will be nearly enough to cover much of the costs to the city.

"The lion's share of the cost this year is from police, running about $31,000," Wiehl said. "Fire came in at about $17,000 and some change. And the [streets department] was running about $16,000 and change."

Plans, food costs and code enforcement were the other expenses that Wiehl cited, though he didn't provide exact figures.

Athens Service Safety Director Paula Horan Moseley said that the beer garden organized by the Athens Clean & Safe Halloween Committee brought in less than $6,000.

"They have expenses associated with that," she said. "I'm not sure if they'll end up making any money on that or not."

Moseley said that O'Bleness Memorial Hospital had a heavy influx of nonresponsive patients during the peak times of between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m..

"It really slammed them hard," Moseley said "We're going to be sure to include the hospital in our planning for next year."

Judy Piercy, assistant vice president and director of residence life at Ohio University, said that total expenses to the school won't be known until early December.

She said she didn't expect it to be much different from the typical expenses of the event, which usually come in around $95,000, she said.

"Most of that goes to payroll, which includes a lot of overtime," she said.

Facility maintenance and custodial staff expenses go up during the weekend, as does paying staff and security as door watchers for each of the many residence halls on campus for both Friday and Saturday nights. About 100 door watchers work both nights, she said. Other expenses include campus police and extra enforcement.

OU brings in some revenue through a $25 guest registration fee for the weekend at the residence halls. She estimated this to range between $48,000 and $51,000. The hosts are charged on their e-bills, with the money going directly into the school's Halloween account. This year, 1,917 guests signed in at the dormitories, she said.