SCP-4360 — SCP-4360 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-4360 Safe ~ medium confidence

SCP-4360

Expected annual

$725K

One-time setup

$1.5M

Annual recurring

$690K

Personnel

One-time capital needs (land purchase, shelter, vehicles, equipment, and decommissioning reserve) drive upfront costs, while recurring personnel wages (guards and researchers), cover/legal, and contingency/reserve funds dominate annual operating expenses.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $1.5M

Land Purchase $1.2M

[#1] Outright purchase of the parcel containing SCP-4360 (midpoint of $500k–$2M).

Equipment $105K

[#4, #6, #7, #15, #16, #20] Vehicles, surveillance installation, safe/cabinet/environmental control, initial servers/workstation, communications devices, and archiving hardware (combined midpoints).

Decommissioning Contingency $100K

[#24] One-time contingency reserve for relocation/removal/sanitization if tree must be moved or removed (midpoint of $50k–$250k).

Facilities $38K

[#5, #12] Shelter/concealed cabin construction and initial trail rerouting/signage site work (midpoint of $15k–$50k and $3k–$12k).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $18K

[#8, #21] Approved DVD production/quarantine bench and small lab/video-signal analysis equipment (midpoint of $3k–$8k and $5k–$20k).

Guard Training Initial $6K

[#3] Initial guard recruitment, training, uniforms and equipment one-time purchases (~$1,500/guard).

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $690K/yr

Staff Wages $445K/yr

[#2, #9, #23] 4 FTE ranger-disguised guards (~$225,000 total incl. benefits), research team (2 FTEs mid-estimate included at ~$200,000), and fractional site administrative/site director cost (~$20,000).

Incident Response Reserve $60K/yr

[#17] Contingency reserve for unexpected incidents, rapid escalation, legal/repair needs (recommended 10–20% of operational budget; midpoint used).

Land Lease $55K/yr

[#1] Alternate to purchase: long-term lease/management agreement with local landowner/agency (midpoint of $10k–$100k/yr).

Cover Story And Legal $40K/yr

[#13, #14] Ongoing PR/cover story management (grants/website/communications) and legal retainer/administration for shell entity and FOIA/permit handling.

Research And Monitoring $23K/yr

[#6, #7, #11, #15, #20, #27, #28] Cloud CCTV storage/monitoring, record-keeping/audit software, arborist/tree health checks and treatments, server hosting, off-site archival storage, civilian exposure follow-up funds, and annual internal audits.

Logistics And Transport $13K/yr

[#4, #19] Fuel/maintenance/insurance for vehicles and transport runs for media, personnel and equipment.

Medical And Psych Monitoring $12K/yr

[#10] Baseline psychological screening and periodic follow-ups plus emergency medical retainer (screening + retainer combined midpoint).

Foia Defense Reserve $10K/yr

[#26] Annualized reserve to cover occasional FOIA/PR/legal incident responses (avg. funding to cover $5k–$50k incidents as needed).

Insurance $9K/yr

[#18] Third‑party liability and property insurance through shell entity (midpoint of $3k–$15k/yr).

Community Compensation $6K/yr

[#25] Ongoing community goodwill/compensation payments or sponsorships (midpoint of $2k–$20k/yr).

Misc Specialist Contracts $6K/yr

[#29] Retainer/occasional consultant fees for archaeology/environmental permitting and plausibility reports.

Supplies And Consumables $5K/yr

[#3, #8, #22] Annual replacement budget for guard/training consumables, media supplies (blanks/cases), PPE, batteries and everyday consumables.

Facilities Maintenance $4K/yr

[#5, #12] Annual utilities/maintenance for shelter and trail/exclusion-zone upkeep (midpoints of $1k–$4k and $500–$2k).

Communications Service $2K/yr

[#16] Cellular/service plans, SIMs and satellite backup service fees for encrypted communications.

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $690K/yr

86.0% probability / year

Normal year with standard operations under lease and no major incidents.

routine_operations no_incidents lease_in_place

🚨 Minor Incident $730K/yr

10.0% probability / year +$40K vs baseline

Small PR/FOIA/legal incident or localized civilian exposure requiring targeted response.

FOIA_request local_media_interest small civilian exposure

🚨 Purchase And Capital Project $1.9M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$1.2M vs baseline

Foundation decides to purchase the parcel and perform capital upgrades (purchase + build-out) in that year.

land_purchase capital_consolidation

🚨 Major Breach $970K/yr

2.0% probability / year +$280K vs baseline

Significant exposure or containment failure requiring decommissioning, relocation, large legal/PR response and repairs.

public_breach decommissioning_or_relocation major_legal_action

👥 Personnel 7 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent (ranger-disguised guards)	4	[#2] Four FTEs to maintain two-person patrols with leave coverage.
Research Scientist	2	[#9] Media analyst and behavioral/psych researcher (mid-estimate of 1–3 FTEs).
Site Director / Administrative Staff	1	[#23] Part-time/fractional site manager coordinating operations, scheduling and approvals.

📋 Confidence Notes

Estimates are midpoints of ranges provided in analyst notes and the article; major uncertainties are whether land is leased or purchased, incident frequencies, and scale chosen for research staffing and reserves.

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