The city of Albuquerque tallied up the costs incurred during a September Donald Trump campaign visit and invoiced the president’s reelection campaign $211,000.
Most of the costs came for paying for time off for city employees, who received paid time off after leaving early on Sept. 16 and coming into work late on Sept. 17 while the president spent the night in a downtown hotel.
Other costs included services from the Albuquerque Police Department and for barricades.
“Our resources for law enforcement are critical and limited. The President’s campaign stop in the Albuquerque area cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, including over 1,500 hours of police overtime that was required by the campaign,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said. “We are asking the Trump campaign to pay our taxpayers back for the costs from his campaign stop.”
Trump’s campaign stop took place in Rio Rancho. In addition to Rio Rancho Police, officers from APD, New Mexico State Police and other local law enforcement agencies were involved in aiding the U.S. Secret Service.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, other agencies have either not decided if they would bill the Trump campaign or have decided not to send an invoice.
The City of Rio Rancho, for example, told the paper the Trump campaign said it would only pay for costs at the Santa Ana Star Center, the city-owned facility where Trump held his rally.
The city of El Paso billed the Trump campaign $569,204 for a rally held in February. As of early October, this bill remained unpaid.
