NEW YORK, NY— Last week, when permits for street closures tied to a Madison Square Garden wedding for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were released, I found myself circling a basic question that never seemed to come with a straight answer: Who pays for the police overtime?
Swift and Kelce themselves, through private security firms and reimbursable police service agreements?
Or taxpayers, through NYPD overtime absorbed into the city budget?
The search for answers led me through New York City’s bureaucracy.