Whitney's Funeral Cost Taxpayers Almost 200K

Newark, New Jersey residents may have loved hometown girl gone big Whitney Houston, but that doesn’t mean all of them are excited about footing the bill for her funeral. The pop star’s ceremony reportedly ran up a bill of $187,000, mostly in police overtime. Given the fiscal situation of most cities, that figure isn’t exactly something to be laughed about, especially considering how the families of other deceased celebrities chose to handle their high profile funerals.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Michael Jackson’s funeral was paid for in advance by his estate. The executor wrote a check to the city of Glendale for $150,000 to arrange for officers to work overtime. In addition, AEG paid for the singer’s memorial service in Los Angeles at a cost of more than a million dollars and handed out almost eighteen thousand tickets for fans to attend for free. That disparity in payments, coupled with Houston’s supporters not being allowed to even be on the same block, has not surprisingly irked many residents who are uninterested in their tax dollars supporting private citizens burying a loved one.

Given that the city already agreed to foot the cost, there’s really not much that can be done to rectify the situation. By most accounts, Houston wasn’t exactly rolling in money at the time of her death, and unless her family decides to pay up, the citizens of New Jersey and more specifically Newark will be on the hook for the total amount. Something tells me whenever Bobby Brown passes, his memorial will be handled a bit differently.