But his visit on June 25 to the Detroit suburb of Novi ended up costing the city’s taxpayers nearly $7,000 in police overtime costs, according to government documents obtained by Raw Story through a Michigan Freedom of Information Act request.
The 2024 presidential campaign of Trump, who is facing 91 criminal charges across four separate felony cases, did not help defray public safety expenses that Novi taxpayers ultimately footed, city and Trump officials confirmed to Raw Story.
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This is keeping in character for Trump, who almost never volunteers to help cover costs associated with his campaign rallies. This stands in contrast to some other presidential campaigns, both Republican and Democratic, which over the years have picked up police expense tabs in part or in full to help fill local police budget holes of their own making.
It also illustrates how local governments have little choice but to tolerate what amounts to a financial Catch-22 and eat unexpected public safety expenses when Trump comes calling. Neither Trump’s campaign committee nor the U.S. Secret Service, which provides him primary protection, are legally obligated to reimburse localities. For the Secret Service, Congress would have to provide reimbursement funding, and it doesn’t.
“My understanding is the Secret Service, whenever they come into town, can call and request additional support, and there's no reimbursement,” Sheryl Walsh, director of communications for the City of Novi, told Raw Story.
"Coordination of local law enforcement resources is handled by the United States Secret Service,” a Trump spokesperson told Raw Story.
“As a matter of operational security, the Secret Service does not specifically discuss the means and methods used to conduct protective operations,” Alexi Worley, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, told Raw Story via email when asked about the additional officers and payment.
‘When the Secret Service asks you, you don't say no’
The Trump event, at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, with a population of 66,000, according to the 2020 Census, had 25 police staff in attendance with all but two requested by the U.S. Secret Service, Walsh said.
The total cost of police officer time for the event was about $7,700 according to records shared with Raw Story, and the Oakland County Republican Party paid a little over $700 for the two officers it contracted, Walsh said.
The Secret Service did not pay for any of the security costs for the 23 additional officers it requested, Walsh said.
The Trump campaign did not request the additional police presence, and the City of Novi chose not to do what other cities have attempted, largely to no avail: bill the Trump and Secret Service, Walsh said.
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Walsh described the City of Novi covering the cost of security for the event as “reciprocity,” noting that if “all hell broke loose,” the responsibility is on the local police forces, which is why the police force is “non-discriminatory” when asked to provide support.
“Whoever asks for the help, especially when the Secret Service asks you, you don't say no,” Walsh said. “We've got a lot of smaller communities around us. If something awful happens in the next door community, your law enforcement agencies band together. They run toward it. You don't go, ‘hey, this stops at our city …’ You help, and when the federal authorities or state authorities, et cetera, ask for the help, you help.”
Still, Walsh acknowledged that any event — from a visit by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Wittmer to the Michigan State Fair which Novi hosted a few weeks back — is “a drain on your resources.”
The City of Novi’s 2023-2024 budget is about $76.4 million, with about $42 million covering the general fund, which includes the police department.
Trump visits often cost small-town taxpayers
Presidential candidates are free to use campaign funds to contribute to public safety efforts tied to their visits. ,
But Trump, in particular, is known for avoiding paying for public safety costs related to his speaking engagements, even after municipal governments have either threatened or even taken legal action to compel Trump’s payment.
From far-right Republican Ted Cruz to far-left Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, some presidential candidates have in recent years voluntarily paid public safety bills using campaign money.
For Trump, the hands-down frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, he’s maintained an active schedule of rallies and speeches despite his legal troubles.
The cost of Trump visits has made some towns question whether or not it’s worth it for them to host such events like in Greensboro, N.C., where a councilwoman asked about reimbursement for the $45,000 in security costs for the North Carolina Republican Party Convention where Trump and other Republican presidential candidates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence spoke.
“In a time where we are so short handed, and OT budgets are limited, we need to figure out if the [Convention and Visitors Bureau] should still be recruiting these events to Greensboro, or if they cost us too much,” Tammi Thurm, a councilwoman for the City of Greensboro, said in an email to the city’s police chief and assistant city manager which Raw Story received through a public records request.
Other cities are still trying to get Trump to pay bills for past events. Among them: Erie, Pa.
Officials there are working to get Trump to pay for a $35,129.27 bill from 2018 for overtime pay that city workers, including police officers, earned for covering his previous rally. When he came to town in late July, the city tried billing him upfront for $5,200 for police overtime costs, Raw Story reported.
When Trump first didn’t pay his 2018 bill in Erie, the Center for Public Integrity reported that Trump had not only stiffed Erie but also hadn’t paid $841,219 total to various city governments. The campaign’s unpaid bills grew to nearly $2 million by December 2020, Insider reported.
Cities including Minneapolis and El Paso, Texas, have threatened or pursued legal action against the Trump campaign to no avail.
And some other cities are still footing the bill to protect Trump, his supporters and the community, writ large. Among them: Manchester, N.H., where 35 officers supported a Trump hotel rally on April 27 — clocking in 216.5 hours of overtime that cost an estimated $12,870 — for which the city government covered the costs, according to records obtained by Raw Story.
In recent months, city governments have taken note of Trump’s debts and used creative techniques to ensure Trump pays up front.
They include Waco, Texas, where the Trump campaign settled up a $60,714.27 bill for a March rally on city property.
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