Rendell's mansion costs not part of budget cuts

HARRISBURG -- Gov. Ed Rendell's belt-tightening didn't start at home.

The cost of operating the governor's official residence increased 6.7 percent -- from $1,021,558 under Republican Gov. Mark Schweiker in 2002 to $1,089,773 under Rendell in 2003, according to records released by the governor's office.

The totals include spending for maintenance, staff salaries, operating the mansion, utilities, food and catering.

Facing what he described as a $2 billion deficit last year, Rendell, a Democrat, repeatedly took credit for cutting general government operations costs across the board by 10 percent.

Those cuts, however, didn't apply to the 32-room Georgian mansion known as the Governor's Residence, where Rendell lives with his wife, Marjorie, a federal appeals court judge.

State taxpayers have shelled out $5.6 million since 2000 to house and feed three governors and their families and to pay for official functions, maintenance and repairs, records show. Operation, maintenance and food cost an average of $1,068,029 a year over the past four years.

Only six states do not provide official governors' residences: California, Arizona, Idaho, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont, according to the National Governors Association.

Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., said cost-cutting should include governors' mansions when states face deficits, as most did last year. "It would be a good example to send for the state," Schatz said.

In Florida, taxpayers spent $377,110 in fiscal year 2002-03 for all costs for operating the mansion in Tallahassee, including laundry, postage and food, a full-time staff of six and some temporary employees, said John Kuczwanski, spokesman for the state's Department of Management Services.

The cost of running the New York mansion in Albany in 2002-03 was $412,261. That included salaries for a staff of 10, according to New York's Office of General Services.

Pennsylvania's mansion, which opened in 1968, has a staff of 15, including two chefs.

Rendell said he is suspect of comparisons to other states because the totals might include different costs. In reference to Ohio's stated annual mansion food budget of $14,000, Rendell said, "Not on your life." Pennsylvania's average annual cost for food and catering was $103,600 during the past four years, records show.

Rendell previously told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he has been a "bear on costs" and last month produced figures showing his food and catering costs were less than Schweiker's. That came in response to a Feb. 15 Trib story disclosing the governor had spent $75,918 on food and catering over 11 months of 2003.

Indeed, Rendell's 12-month food and catering costs, $90,307, were lower than Schweiker's $126,196, primarily because catering costs were cut.

The overall mansion costs are a different story. Those figures weren't available when the Trib published the Feb. 15 food story.

In response to a Right to Know law request filed by the Trib, Rendell recently released figures that show the cost of running the mansion in 2003 were higher than Schweiker's in 2002, lower than what former Republican Gov. Tom Ridge spent in 2001 and higher than Ridge's spending in 2000.

Schweiker, former lieutenant governor, took office in October 2001 after Ridge joined the Bush administration to oversee homeland security.

The main factors driving up costs in 2003 were increased personnel costs, a sharp jump in utility bills, buildings and ground maintenance, housekeeping expenses and transition costs for the new governor, said David Myers, deputy chief of staff to Rendell.

"We really believe very strongly that 2001 is a far more valid comparison" than 2002, Myers said. Total operating, maintenance and food costs decreased from $1,136,618 in 2001 to $1,089,773 in 2003, a drop of 4.1 percent.

Myers maintained that 2001 was a far more typical year than 2002. "The residence was used much more actively in 2001," Myers said. The governor's office says mansion costs, when adjusted for inflation, decreased about 8 percent from 2001 to 2003.

Myers' premise is that the mansion was used less by Schweiker in 2002; therefore, Rendell's cost increase wasn't a significant one.

Schweiker and his family didn't move in until March 2002. Schweiker's family spent that summer at the beach and moved to Bucks County in the fall of 2002, when school started, Myers said. Schweiker stayed behind to close down operations, according to Myers.

There also were major "lifestyle differences," Myers said. Schweiker would put in his work day at the Capitol, while "this governor meets with people until 10 o'clock at night" at the mansion, Myers said.

Lucy Gnazzo, former chief of staff and press secretary to First Lady Michele Ridge and later special adviser to both Govs. Ridge and Schweiker, said, "Knowing as much as I do in terms of all operations, I don't think it's fair to try to come up with a number, a cost, and pin it to the governor and first lady and family. A lot of events are part of the operational costs. There are business meetings, dinners and a lot of significant activity. There are anywhere from 300 to 500 meetings and events per year."

The number of events held at the mansion also increased in 2003, Myers said.

"We've tried to make it much more of the people's house," Rendell said in a March 16 interview.

Rendell says using the mansion to entertain businesses considering an expansion in Pennsylvania is a valuable economic development tool. "One deal a year would cover the cost of the residence," Rendell said.

Preservation and advisory committees over the years have raised private money to help pay for interior and exterior improvement.

"Remember, we've had this (mansion) for seven governors," Rendell said. "I inherited it. I didn't ask for it."

Brad Bumsted can be reached at bbumsted@tribweb.com or (717) 787-1405. Debra Erdley can be reached at derdley@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7996.