Vancouver Citizens $1.5 Billion In Olympic Hole

From the Canadian Press:

A preliminary report estimates that hosting the 2010 Olympics cost Vancouver over a half a billion dollars.

The report will be presented to city council next week and suggests the lion’s share of the costs went to venues and local infrastructure improvements.  The bottom line doesn’t include the cost to the city of taking over the $1 billion Olympic athletes village project.

Vancouver never had an omnibus budget for Olympic costs, though it earmarked $20 million to cover items like city celebrations and decorations.

The full cost of hosting the Games for the city is actually over $700 million, but was partly financed through contributions from the provincial and federal governments.

The report is expected to be made public, but an early copy was provided and publicized by a local rights advocate.

Thank you, No Games Chicago.