Games are a bonanza for Sydney

SYDNEY — If you're an Olympic Games supporter, Sydney's Lord Mayor Frank Sartor was saying all the right things today.

Following a private meeting with Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, Sartor said the 2000 Summer Games have been very good for his city. He told reporters:

• Sydney's $310 million investment in the Games will pay off.

• Games-related economic growth will pour $6 billion to $7 billion into the economy of the state of New South Wales.

• Despite government expenditures to help finance the Games, the Olympics will not leave a debt for taxpayers.

• The Games will bring needed growth to Australian tourism.

• The city will benefit from infrastructure constructed for the Games.

• The Games will boost the country's sports programs.

• The Games have exceeded his expectations and, he hopes, the expectations of Olympic visitors. For his part, Anderson told reporters the two discussed Sydney's volunteer effort and also the bid scandal.

"(Sartor) had the view that we're taking the brunt of what people have done in the past," Anderson said.

Probably the most prestigious mark of success for an Olympics host city is to be declared, during remarks by the IOC president at the closing ceremonies, as the "best Summer Games ever." That declaration would be Sydney's gold medal.

Sartor said he isn't counting his medals before the Games officially end Sunday, but "my feeling is we're about to get the gold."

Sartor said the Games cost about $5 billion to pull off. That includes the Sydney organizing committee's $2.5 billion budget plus state and local government costs to build sport venues and infrastructure.

In U.S. dollars, that $5 billion amounts to about $3 billion, Sartor said, even though Salt Lake Organizing Committee officials have said their understanding is that the $5 billion figure is in U.S. dollars.

For the 2002 Winter Games, the budget is $1.3 billion, and the federal government's contribution toward things like transportation improvements and security for the Games is estimated at something less than $200 million.

The New South Wales state government bore the brunt of the governmental costs for the Games — almost $2 billion in services and facilities.

In addition to that, the city of Sydney gave $10 million directly to the organizing committee and spent another $300 million on infrastructure to get ready for the Games.

Sartor, who was first elected to office in 1991, is the longest-serving lord mayor of Sydney. His current four-year term expires in 2003.

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