Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Special Event Revenue topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee receives special-events revenue report showing nearly $893,000 in DPD charges for Oct–Dec 2025
Summary
City finance and public-safety officials told the committee that event organizers were billed about $893,303 for DPD support and $18,840 for DFD services Oct–Dec 2025; members asked whether invoiced amounts reflect actual departmental costs and whether event deployments affect neighborhood patrols.
City finance staff and agency CFOs presented the charter-required quarterly special-events revenue report to the Budget, Finance & Audit committee on Feb. 18. The report covers public-safety support costs that event organizers are charged when DPD and DFD provide officers, equipment or services for events that require a council-approved permit and expect more than 1,500 attendees.
Nevros Nazarco, agency CFO for the Detroit Police Department, and John Niegluk, chief deputy CFO and controller for the city, said the invoices reflect actual expenses incurred by the departments. For Oct–Dec 2025 the presentation listed about $893,303 in DPD charges and $18,840 in DFD charges; staff said the spreadsheet submitted to council contains event-level line items.
Vice Chair Leticia Johnson asked whether the amounts shown represent the departments’ actual costs for officers and vehicles. Nazarco replied that the billed amounts include officers’ time, vehicle costs and an administrative fee and that the invoices are presented down to the penny. When asked if deploying officers to special events harms neighborhood patrols, staff said that operational deployment decisions are made by the chief’s office and offered to forward the committee’s question to operations.
Member Mary Waters asked whether event organizers were increasingly using private emergency medical services and whether the city maintains oversight of safety plans; staff said DFD issues permits and supervises event safety while ambulance services are often provided by private vendors.
After discussion, the committee motioned to receive and file the report. Members asked staff to provide follow-up information on whether event deployments reduce neighborhood patrol presence and to confirm how costs and services are tracked.
Next steps: staff to provide the committee with operational-impact information from the DPD chief’s office and any additional detail on billing and service-tracking.
