BY ALFONSO CHARDY

 The final tab for just the Washington, D.C., part of the Elián González saga will
 easily exceed $2 million.

 A variety of sources, from the Cuban government to the U.S. government to
 private citizens, footed the bill.

 One day after the 6-year-old survivor of a boat sinking returned home to Cuba with
 his father, the financial costs of the seven-month-long custody fight were still
 being tallied. But as of today, the biggest expense belongs to the American
 taxpayer: at least $1.8 million.

 Some costs, such as emergency medical treatment or crowd control, cannot
 easily be calculated because many municipal governments and services were
 involved -- from Miami to Washington, D.C.

 But other costs were more measurable -- both because the government tracked
 them systematically or because the people involved in paying private expenses
 have released the information.

 The Justice Department regularly compiled its expenses and released the data in
 sheets faxed -- on request -- to news organizations. Maria Cardona, an
 Immigration and Naturalization Service spokeswoman, gave the latest expense
 report to The Herald Thursday.

 It shows that as of June 11, Justice Department divisions such as legal counsel,
 the INS and the U.S. Marshals Service had spent $1.8 million.

 COST OF TRAVEL

 According to the report, personnel travel and transportation was the most
 expensive item, nearly $800,000, followed by overtime pay -- about $617,000.

 The U.S. government provided security for Elián and his father after armed federal
 agents on April 22 raided the Little Havana home of Lázaro González and seized
 the boy. Elián was flown to Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington where
 he was reunited with his father, Juan Miguel González.

 The $1.8 million listed in the Justice expense report includes the cost of the raid
 and transporting Elián to be reunited with his father, Cardona said.

 Air travel expenses from Cuba for Juan Miguel and Elián's grandmothers as well
 as the boy's return trip Wednesday aboard a chartered executive jet were covered
 by the Cuban government and Vivian Mannerud, owner of ABC Charters of Miami.

 Mannerud is a prominent Cuban American whose company has long arranged
 flights between Miami and Cuban airports under a U.S. Treasury Department
 license.

 Mannerud said she did not have a breakdown of the total cost for the chartered
 flights, but a source within the company said it would exceed $100,000.

 ``When I agreed to help with a chartered flight, I didn't imagine there'd be so many
 flights,'' Mannerud said.

 CHARTER EXPENSE

 Typically, it costs about $5,000 an hour to charter an executive jet of the type
 used to fly Elián back to Cuba, Mannerud said.

 The flight to Cuba lasted more than three hours, originating at Washington Dulles
 International Airport. The plane, owned by General Electric Capital Corp. of
 Danbury, Conn., is operated by Executive Flightways of Long Island. Company
 officials declined comment.

 The Cuban government also apparently paid the bill to feed Elián, his father and
 their entourage while they lived together in the United States. The Cuban Interests
 Section did not return phone calls, but people involved in the case said mission
 officials supplied food.

 When Elián rejoined his father, the two spent three days at Andrews Air Force
 Base where the U.S. government picked up the costs.

 Then, the group moved to the Wye Plantation in Maryland. Wye Plantation
 officials did not return calls, but the INS has said that a wealthy widow -- Nina
 Houghton -- whose husband donated the land for the conference center, allowed
 them to stay at the property free of charge.

 MOVING ON

 Eventually, Juan Miguel and his family grew restless, moving on May 25 into
 Rosedale, a Revolutionary War-era home in Washington, D.C.

 Len Doran, spokesman for the Youth for Understanding International Exchange,
 which owns the property, said the González family was allowed to stay free of
 cost but that sponsors were billed for utilities such as electricity and telephone.

 Doran said he did not yet have an amount for utility charges, but that they were
 supposed to be covered by either the National Council of Churches or the United
 Methodist Church, both of which have been involved in the Elián case.