Washington — Washington - Next week's presidential inauguration of Barack Obama is expected to cost the state of Maryland at least $11 million, state officials said yesterday.
That figure includes costs related to Obama's train trip through Maryland and his planned stop in Baltimore on Saturday. The inauguration committee has yet to release details of that event, but local officials say they are planning for an afternoon speech in front of the War Memorial building across from City Hall in downtown Baltimore.
Excitement about the president-elect's stop here and for the inauguration is building in the region - Harford County residents, for example, are scouting locations to wave at the train as it goes by - but so are the complexity and expense of planning for such major events. City officials estimate that as many as 150,000 people could turn out for Obama's Baltimore stop.
All told, the inauguration is costing Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia some $75 million, Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty told reporters at a news conference yesterday.
Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, said he has spoken with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada about getting Congress to reimburse the cash-short state government. Members of the Maryland congressional delegation, including Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Baltimore, both Democrats, are also involved in seeking federal reimbursement, he said.
O'Malley, who joined Fenty and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine to brief reporters about regional inauguration planning, said Congress was unlikely to provide the money before the Jan. 20 event.
But O'Malley said that even some congressional leaders were surprised that federal money had not been set aside to help state and local governments with the costs. He noted that Congress provided funds for similar expenses in connection with last summer's national political conventions in Denver and St. Paul, Minn.
"I think all of us were somewhat surprised that Congress had not made appropriations to cover the cost of the inauguration," O'Malley said. "Having said that, the public safety responsibility has to be fulfilled, as does the transportation responsibility, so we're going to do it. And we have faith in our new Congress [to reimburse Maryland] for this big expense."
O'Malley said anyone who wants to attend inaugural events should do some research in the newspaper and on the Internet before setting out for Washington Tuesday.
