Who's your caddy?

In Pierce County, Washington, the Tacoma News Tribune buries the lede by putting the benefits cart before the costs' horse;

Claims and counterclaims about which local governments stand to profit most from the U.S. Open golf championship caused a rift to develop last fall between Pierce County and the city of University Place, according to documents recently obtained by The News Tribune.

The trouble began when University Place city attorney Steve Victor tried to figure out how much revenue the county stood to gain by holding the event at Chambers Bay, a county-owned golf course located inside the city limits of UP. Victor then wrote a memorandum saying it looked like the county would reap considerably more money than his city.

The Adam Lynn story goes on for paragraph after paragraph--22, by our quick count--before raising the other side of the expected coin;

While the county stands to bring in about $4 million in revenue from the event, it also has significant expenses associated with it, [Deputy County Executive] Phelps wrote.

Oh yeah, it's a money losing proposition for the taxpayers of Pierce County, but these orphans--that Mr. Lynn eventually mentions--won't be claimed by any of those politicians, were fairly sure, which;

...include more than $2.5 million in improvements.... Among them was expanding the driving range and making improvements to a number of holes, as required by the USGA.

... the Sheriff’s Department anticipates assigning up to 100 deputies to provide security at the U.S. Open.... The county also has contracted with other law enforcement agencies, including the State Patrol and Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, to provide personnel.

The county has agreed to reimburse those agencies up to $72 per hour for “overtime worked at the U.S. Open and overtime incurred to backfill personnel assigned to the U.S. Open,” ....

...the county has committed significant resources within the Department of Emergency Management, Information Technology and our GIS division to assist in planning and execution of the event.”

All of which are a secret for now;

Phelps said last week that he would not release how much the security plan would cost the county until after the championship.

“We’ll provide a real good accounting then,” he told a reporter.

So, about those 'profits' mentioned in the TNT's opening paragraph;

Phelps and County Executive McCarthy told the County Council earlier this month that the county hopes to break even on the event.

Which springs eternal in politics.

[our bolds in the above, of course]