Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
County wants Trump costs reimbursed
Thanksgiving security cost $250,000
Palm Beach County taxpayers shouldn’t have to shoulder the cost of protecting President-elect Donald Trump when he visits his South Florida oceanfront estate, local officials say.
They want the federal government to start paying the county for costs incurred when Trump stays at his Palm Beach mansion, Mara-Lago. Palm Beach County spent about $250,000 on extra law enforcement costs when Trump visited for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Now, Trump is back in town for Christmas, and the bill is growing larger.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, DBoca Raton, said he’ll work to ensure South Florida is reimbursed. “The burden of security costs incurred during his visit last month should not fall solely on the residents of Palm Beach County,” he said.
Palm Beach County Administrator Verdenia Baker said she is planning to send a letter to other members of Congress from South Florida asking for their help.
Congress recently allocated $7 million to reimburse local law enforcement for overtime hours spent pro-
tecting Trump. New York City alone is asking the federal government for $35 million to cover its costs in securing Trump Tower in Manhattan. Officials there estimate it is costing $500,000 a day to protect Trump.
The Secret Service does not receive recurring funding to reimburse local and state police for assisting in protecting the president, said Joe Casey, an agency spokesman.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is keeping tabs on how much it is spending in overtime and other costs to escort Trump’s motorcade and protect Mar-a-Lago, Baker said.
If Trump makes Palm Beach a frequent destination, Mar-a-Lago could serve as his Winter White House, harkening back to the Kennedy estate in Palm Beach that President John Kennedy frequented during his presidency.
Deputies are assisting the Secret Service “with any and all their needs,” said Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office. She declined to give specifics, but she said the department incurred nearly $250,000 in overtime costs during Trump’s Thanksgiving visit.
Chad Jenkins, a former FBI special agent who founded the West Palm Beach-based security consulting firm Jenkins Group, said the Sheriff’s Office could be used for a variety of tasks from conducting additional canine sweeps to crowd control.
“It’s a costly project when you are conducting executive protection of the future leader of the free world,” he said.
In the past, Congress has typically reimbursed local police for overtime costs associated with protecting the president, said Robert McCrie, a professor of security management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
But with Trump spending much of his time in densely populated Manhattan and the charged nature of this year’s election demanding more protection, costs are likely higher, he said.
Local police are under no mandate to protect the president, McCrie said, but it’s considered an honor of great importance that shouldn’t be shirked.
“It has always involved the collaboration of multiple law enforcement agencies,” he said.