Obama's mansion protection costs $2.2 million, city not fully reimbursed

Blogging from San Francisco.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that since becoming president, the tab on protecting the Hyde Park mansion of President Obama is already high.

Like most cities, Chicago is having some serious budget problems.

The Chicago Police Department has spent at least $2.2 million to secure President Barack Obama's Kenwood residence since he was elected in November, according to documents released Monday by the city.

The department will be reimbursed by the federal government for more than $1.5 million of those costs. But the expense of protecting the president's home since his January inauguration -- nearly $650,000 through the end of April -- is not currently scheduled to be paid back, according to the city's response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Tribune.

"There is no reimbursement mechanism currently in place for this [post-inauguration] money," the city's Office of Legal Affairs said in the written response.

The security expense comes at a time when the city's general budget woes have meant that hiring in the Police Department has slowed and command staff officers are taking unpaid days off. Mayoral spokeswoman Jacquelyn Heard said she believed the money would be repaid.

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