DarienFest Cost Police Department $19K to Staff

staffing for DarienFest cost the city just more than $19,000 this year, Deputy Chief David Skala said Thursday during the . 

About $16,000 in overtime pay accounted for the bulk of the cost, he said.

Twenty-six officers worked a total of 267 hours and 15 minutes in overtime while patrolling over the course of the three-day festival, which ran Sept. 9-11 in .

Thirteen officers worked about 72-and-a-half regular hours at DarienFest, which came to about $3,000.

Last year it cost the police department about $18,000 to patrol DarienFest, Skala said.

“There wasn’t that dramatic of a difference,” he said. 

The amount paid out as overtime, however, was slightly higher than in 2011 because a number of police officers were on leave for various medical reasons, he said. 

The Darien Chamber of Commerce agreed in May to reimburse the city for a minimum of $1,200. If the chamber grossed more than $20,000, it said it would give the city 10 percent of the profits.