Convention going $10m over budget
Construction, production costs blamed
Soaring production and construction costs are pushing the Democratic National Convention well above its $64.5 million budget, with staging, building, and readying the FleetCenter for television expected to cost $10 million more than initial estimates.
According to convention organizers, construction is expected to cost $13.9 million, nearly twice the $7.2 million estimated by local and national planners in 2002. And this week organizers signed off on a production budget of $9.1 million for Ricky Kirshner Productions, up from the $6 million in the Democratic National Committee's original agreement with the host committee.
The full scope of the construction and production projects is still being finalized by convention planners, in conjunction with Senator John F. Kerry's campaign. But according to several planners, the items driving costs skyward include several that Kerry aides and Democratic Party officials want in order to give the convention a different look: Two side podiums in addition to the main stage, for example, and plans to pipe in live coverage of remote appearances around the country during the convention.
In addition, new steel beams must be installed on the FleetCenter ceiling to support a state-of-the-art lighting system that the Kerry campaign's producers want to use. New rigging for lights, sound, and video must be suspended from the ceiling because national Democrats want the main stage in the middle of the arena, not at one end, as in most concerts held at the FleetCenter.
The question of added costs has produced some unease between national and local convention planners, who may have to wrangle over who will pay for extras when convention bills come due and each gives different explanations for the sources of the larger price tag.
David A. Passafaro -- president of Boston 2004, the convention host committee -- said that much of the added costs are related to the Democrats' desire to produce a flashier convention to showcase their candidate.
''They're driven by the [Democratic National Campaign Committee]'s desire to have a better production, their drive to attract additional and new voters to the process, and their hope that they can best show their candidate to the public," he said.
While the host committee and national Democrats crafted the original budget in 2002, the first draft contained few specifics. Since Kerry locked up the party's nomination in March, his aides have become more closely involved with convention planning.
Michael Meehan, a Kerry campaign spokesman, said costs have increased not because of added features, but because of higher-than-anticipated costs for labor and because upgrading the electrical network near the FleetCenter and providing enough space for the news media have proved costlier than expected when the convention budget was written in 2002.
Meehan said the Kerry campaign is working to raise money in conjunction with the host committtee so that those obstacles can be overcome without affecting the production. ''We're interested in putting Boston's best face forward on the national stage," Meehan said. ''It's obviously important to our campaign."
Convention officials say they now believe that the convention budget will be about $70 million. That's because they expect about half of the $10 million in added construction and production costs to be offset by savings elsewhere in the budget, where costs will be lower than anticipated. In addition, the final construction costs could be lower than $13.9 million, according to the host committee.
The increased price tag, combined with the host committee's inability thus far to fulfill its $39.5 million fund-raising commitment, has spurred organizers in Boston and Washington into action. Yesterday, Mayor Thomas M. Menino enlisted three top Boston business leaders to help the host committee's fund-raising efforts.
At a private breakfast at the Parkman House, Menino asked the chief executive officers of three of the city's most prominent businesses -- David F. D'Alessandro of
''They've been helpful in the past on the fund-raising, and they will be helpful as we continue to move forward," Menino said. ''It's going fairly well, and we're making progress every day."
John Hancock, Beacon Capital, and Hill Holliday have all already given at least $100,000 each to the host committee, and Menino said he is not asking them to give more themselves. Yesterday's meeting was also attended by Passafaro, and the mayor said the business leaders were updated on planning progress as well.
It remains unclear how much, if any, local organizers would be required to raise to cover larger costs. The Kerry campaign has said it would pay for any extras it asks for. But fund-raising for the convention is technically handled by the local host committee, a fact that has raised speculation that it could be stuck with part of the bill.
Boston 2004 host committee officials point out that under its contract with the Democratic National Committee, the host committee is only responsible for bringing in $39.5 million in private donations.
The host committee is within $3 million of its $39.5 million target, and Menino has told associates that he wants to close the book on his portion of fund-raising by the end of this month, so he can concentrate on logistical planning for the convention. The Democrats will convene at the FleetCenter July 26-29.
Kerry fund-raisers have begun raising money for the host committee to cover cost overruns. Three of the Kerry's top fund-raisers, Robert Farmer, Lou Susman, and Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, are heading up those efforts.
Rick Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com. 