SAFETY FEES
THE COST TO THE CITY for protecting President-elect Donald Trump is quickly exploding into the millions of dollars, as cops perform duties ranging from traffic control on Fifth Ave. to coordinating with Secret Service on terror threats.
Various reports have estimated the daily price tag for security around Trump Tower at between $500,000 and $1 million — exceeding what other cities have spent on their favorite sons who won the White House. And while city officials say they’re confident about getting federal reimbursement, history suggests there’s no assurance they’ll be able to recoup the full amount.
“The complex challenges and tremendous costs associated with protecting a President and a President’s family in the heart of Manhattan are truly unprecedented. As such, we will be issuing a full-throated request — with support from congressional leadership and our federal partners — for a complete reimbursement for all costs incurred,” said Mayor de Blasio’s spokesman Austin Finan.
That would include money spent before the January inauguration and after.
Finan said the $1 million per day figure, first reported by CNN Money, is not accurate, but City Hall would not provide an estimate of its own.
President Obama’s trips to the Big Apple show how the expenses can pile up quickly.
During the 2016 fiscal year, Obama visited New York four times and overtime costs totaled $4.1 million, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office. Obama’s day trip to the city in June cost just under $470,000 in police overtime, and his two brief trips in October and November 2015 cost a combined $377,000.
When Obama was elected, the Chicago Police Department spent $2.2 million to protect his Kenwood home between Election Day and the following April, according to documents obtained by the Chicago Tribune. The expected federal reimbursement is for more than $1.5 million of that — the money spent during the presidential transition — but not the $650,000 spent after the inauguration.
The extraordinary New York costs come from the complications of securing a presidential residence in a Fifth Ave. skyscraper.
“We’re talking about establishing a security structure around a high-rise building in Midtown Manhattan. The impact affects millions of people,” said former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow.
While the Obamas lived in a major city, theirs was a detached single-family home with a gate on a residential street. They rarely spent the night there after moving into the White House.
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were sitting governors when elected, living in governor’s mansions in Austin, Tex., and Little Rock, Ark., so city governments weren’t on the hook for security.