National media outlets are expected to pay a combined $36,000 per month to the City of Santa Maria for parking and office space near the Michael Jackson trial, an amount almost equal to overtime costs of policing the area surrounding the courthouse.

Jury selection in the Jackson case is set to begin on Monday, and the trial could continue through the summer.

ABC News has since Jan. 17 been paying $4,000 per month to occupy 1,500 square feet of office and parking space at the Haglund Building on McClelland Drive, across the street from the Santa Maria Courts Complex, said City Manager Tim Ness.

Also, CourtTV is negotiating to rent 13 city-owned parking spaces near the Nelson Aquatic Center, where it plans to build a platform from which to broadcast, Ness said.

Two media outlets are negotiating to rent office space at the Nelson Aquatic Center, and another is looking to rent space at Simas Field, said Mark van de Kamp, management analyst for the city, who declined to name the companies. Both sites are adjacent to the courts complex.

Overtime costs associated with policing the area around the courts complex add up to about $40,000 per month, Ness said. During the course of the trial, overtime totals could total a staggering $240,000, he said.

Without the extra revenue sources, that's more overtime than an annual police budget of about $15 million could bear, Ness said.

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The projected $4,000 gap between overtime expenses and earnings from rentals may be filled by sales taxes collected from visitors to Santa Maria for the Jackson case, he added.

More than 30 police officers will patrol both sides of Miller Street near the courts complex during the first day of jury selection, said Lt. Chris Vaughn of the Santa Maria Police Department.

Vaughn said he is expecting anywhere from several hundred to more than 1,000 spectators to attend the event.

All onlookers will be penned between a fence lining the courtroom parking lot and barricades manned by police on the street, he said.

"Access will be very restricted for fans," Vaughn said.

Motorists will only experience a minor inconvenience because of the Jackson trial, Vaughn said, adding that roads will remain open except for the intersection of Miller Street at Orange Street near the courts complex.

Signs nearby will alert drivers of the closure, he said.

Santa Maria police presence is separate from about 35 Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies who will patrol the courts complex itself, said Darrel Parker, assistant executive officer of the Superior Court.

The media pays Santa Barbara County about $7,500 per day to help off-set overtime charges for deputies and other workers at the courts complex, though that number is below what the county expends, Parker said.

The 46-year-old Jackson has pleaded not guilty to four counts of engaging in lewd acts with an unnamed 13-year-old boy and four counts of administering alcohol to help him with the alleged molestations. Jackson also has pleaded not guilty to a conspiracy charge involving child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion, and a count of attempted child molestation.

* Staff writer Quintin Cushner can be reached at 739-2217 or by e-mail at qcushner@pulitzer.net.

Jan. 25, 2005