Boston Mayor Will Not Sign '24 Olympic Contract If Cost Overruns Fall On Taxpayers

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh -- fresh off a USOC meeting -- on Friday said that he "won’t sign a bid to host the 2024 Summer Games if a contractually obligated 'guarantee' to cover cost overruns would fall" on taxpayers, according to Stout & Boss of the BOSTON HERALD. Walsh said of his conversations with the USOC, "I was asked if I would sign the document. I said I’m not signing anything unless we assure that the guarantee doesn’t fall back on the taxpayers. ... I said we’ll work something out to make sure we have the proper insurance and the proper protections to ensure -- whether it’s the construction of venues or building of whatever it might be -- that there’s going to be a guarantee just in case something happens. But I said the city of Boston is not going to take that responsibility" (BOSTON HERALD, 7/4).