Massive anti-ICE protests have cost the city of Los Angeles nearly $20M

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- With thousands of officers working overtime and some agitators turning destructive in Los Angeles, there was bound to be a huge cost to the taxpayer. 7 on Your Side Investigates has the numbers.

These huge protests have cost the city at least $19.7 million, according to L.A. City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo. Much of that cost, nearly $17 million, is coming from the LAPD.

LAPD officers have wracked up more than $11 million in overtime during these protests, according to Szabo. There's been $593,000 in damages to city buildings.

It cost $523,209 to clean the streets, and $85,712 to erase graffiti, but Szabo says that number will likely climb.

Szabo says the massive protests have been an extraordinary event, that has led to an extraordinary city deployment, which in turn leads to an extraordinary cost to taxpayers.

"Well, it is certainly not sustainable," said Szabo.

"It's critical, as the mayor has said and members of the council have said, the city will maintain public safety. But this level of extraordinary deployment is very expensive, and it's costing the taxpayers."

And this huge cost is coming right after the mayor and city council were able to balance a budget and overcome a billion-dollar deficit.

Szabo says the city will pay for the roughly $20 million in costs from these protests by using money mostly from its reserves.

He says he's always concerned when the city dips into its rainy-day fund, but he says that fund is there for unplanned events like this.