City of Albuquerque sends Trump campaign $211,000 bill for rally, asks him to 'pay our taxpayers back'

Source: The Hill | October 24, 2019 | Aris Folley

The city of Albuquerque, N.M., is asking President Trump’s campaign to pay its bill for costs incurred from his visit to the state last month.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, the city said the president’s campaign racked up a $211,175 bill during the campaign stop after the city provided police services to help with the visit in the area. 

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller (D) told the publication in a statement that the town’s “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,” Keller continued. “We are asking the Trump campaign to pay our taxpayers back for the costs from his campaign stop.” 

In the invoice the city sent to Trump’s campaign organization last week, the group was charged $71,242 for services provided by the Albuquerque Police Department, which the city said provided “1,528 hours of additional police coverage required by the campaign visit,” according to the publication.

The campaign was also reportedly charged more than $7,000 for barricades during the visit and slapped with a $132,832 charge on the invoice. The city said the latter charge was to cover costs incurred after it provided workers near Trump’s overnight lodging with paid time off after they were forced to leave work early during the visit, the publication reports.

A spokeswoman for Keller told the Albuquerque Journal that the move by the mayor marks the first time his office has ever had to charge any president for a campaign visit since was elected in 2017. She told the paper that no other presidential campaign visit has “required any assistance from the city.”

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