Politicians push to recover Trump security costs
South Florida’s congressional delegation is urging the Trump administration to get moving on providing federal reimbursement to local governments that incur extraordinary security expenses from presidential visits.
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, a Democrat who represents most of Palm Beach County, said she and five other members of Congress from Broward and Palm Beach counties sent letters to Trump administration officials pressing for the money.
The biggest impact in the region is on Palm Beach County property taxpayers, who have been footing the bill for costs incurred by the Sheriff ’s Office when President Donald Trump visits his MaraClub in Palm Beach.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office has estimated it has cost county taxpayers about $4 million to help provide security during Trump’s visits since hewas elected.
Other reimbursements could go to the city of West Palm Beach, the town of Palm Beach and Broward County, whose taxpayers provided sheriff’s deputies to supplement PBSO.
The Palm Beach Police Department estimated it has racked up about $115,000 in personnel expenses related to presidential visits. And it anticipates spending nearly $250,000 a year on extra police overtime, temporary fencing and other expenses stemming from hosting the president.
The federal appropriation covers only law enforcement personnel costs directly attributable to presidential visits.
In May, Congress approved
budget legislation that included $61 million from the federal government to help defray security costs of Trump visits between Election Day and his inauguration and between the inauguration and the end of the federal fiscal year Sept. 30.
The money isn’t just for Palm Beach County. New York, where Trump spent most of his time as presidentis also in line to get its local security expenses reimbursed. And Trump has a golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., which he’s been using as his summer weekend getaway after the end of the winterspring
social season in Palm Beach.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Broward-Palm Beach county Democrat, said at the time itwould take time to get rules written and a process established for disbursing the money.
Thisweek, Frankel said, letters went to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Bob Fenton, acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, calling for consideration of local costs. The letter to Sessions covers expenses since Trump became president. The letter toFEMAcovers the period between the election and Trump’s inauguration.
“We write to ask for full and fair consideration of requests by the Palm
Beach County Sheriff’s Office, as well as other South Florida law enforcement agencies,” the letters state. “While protection of the president is paramount, the amount of overtime cost is detrimental to the local budgets and puts a strain on our local police forces.”
Also signing the letters were Deutch, U.S. Rep. BrianMast, the only Republican who represents any part of the two counties; and U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Democrat whose district includes part of Palm Beach County. U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz andFredericaWilson, Democrats who represent parts of Broward and Miami-Dade counties, also signed.