Employees who wished to rent automobiles submitted forms showing that the rentals would cost the state less than if they simply drove their vehicles and were reimbursed for the mileage.

The costs associated with legal work involving the custody of the children and potential criminal charges accounted for the bulk of the state spending to date, the documents show. The state expects to pay nearly $4.5 million in attorney's fees, including for both lawyers representing the state's interests and lawyers appointed by the courts to assure that the children's rights were safeguarded.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars are earmarked for such expenses as expert witnesses, legal support personnel, office supplies and for visiting judges.

Fees for equipment, overtime pay, travel expenses, mostly for employees of the state's protective services agencies, appear to be the second largest share of the outlays to date. The state will pay about $2.4 million for the renting of buses and for the facilities that housed the children and some of the mothers early on in the operation. State workers racked up about $1.7 million in overtime and $1.2 million for travel and expenses during the first month of operations.

The documents also show that the Eldorado raid cost the Texas Department of Public Safety nearly $1.3 million, including $410,000 for officers' overtime pay and almost $82,000 for travel.

The documents do not include any of the bills submitted from several private charity providers that assisted the state with the operations, and it was unclear late Friday how many invoices from state employees have yet to be submitted.

"I think the (newly released documents) captured the vast majority of the overtime and the travel," said Stephanie Goodman, a spokesman for the state's Health and Human Services Commission. "We're still working with the foster care facilities to look at any costs not covered by the daily rates."

The documents did include e-mails circulated among some of Perry's top staffers in response to a May 25 Star-Telegram report about complaints about delayed reimbursements to some state protective services employees. The e-mails included "travel voucher talking points" explaining the process for ensuring prompt reimbursement and expressing empathy for employees who must pay their ever-rising gasoline bills upfront.

"We have been hearing a few anecdotal stories from staff that they are feeling the gas price pinch and that their reimbursements are taking too long," the talking points say before explaining how the reimbursement policy works.