New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that Taylor Swift has settled a bill of more than $160,000 with the city, covering public resources devoted to security and event logistics surrounding her Madison Square $SQ Garden wedding over the July 4 weekend.
At a news conference, Mamdani revealed both the payment and that the underlying permit had come together only shortly before the festivities began. "Taylor Swift has paid already the cost of the permit that was lodged, which was over $160,000 for that event and for the response to that event," Mamdani told reporters, according to NBC News.
The reimbursement follows public criticism over the use of taxpayer-funded resources for the multi-day celebration. Before the reimbursement was announced, Republican U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York's 11th Congressional District had publicly demanded that Swift and Kelce cover the cost, arguing that the roughly 130 officers assigned daily to the event were a burden city taxpayers had no obligation to absorb, according to NBC News.
A confidential NYPD planning document, which The New York Times was first to report, detailed a security deployment drawing on personnel from three law enforcement agencies — the NYPD, the MTA Police Department, and Amtrak police — positioned throughout the arena's surrounding area, with road closures affecting multiple blocks of Midtown Manhattan.
Over the course of the multi-day event, an intimate gathering of around 100 guests attended a rehearsal dinner, while permits authorized a far grander reception the following evening drawing close to 1,000 attendees, according to the Guardian. According to The New York Times, securing road closures for an event of this magnitude carries a price tag of as much as $66,000 for each day of closure.
NBC News reported that comment requests directed to both the NYPD and Swift's team went unanswered. Mamdani noted that New York had hosted several major events that summer, including the Knicks' championship, the World Cup, and Swift's wedding.