St. Cloud Still Looking for Reimbursement for Trump Rally

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- The general election has come and gone but the city of St. Cloud is not giving up on getting reimbursed for a presidential campaign rally held here this past summer.

Mayor Dave Kleis says the city has sent two invoices to the Trump campaign for $209,000, but they have not been paid. Kleis says they are now going to try billing the Secret Service since most of the expenses were related to public safety.

We still will send that invoice in and hopefully also talk to our Congressional folks.  If there isn't a mechanism there should be.  I just don't know how communities can absorb that, especially cities our size or smaller.  Presidential elections are not going to get any less expensive.

St. Cloud State University rented the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center to the Trump campaign for $35,000. They have been paid in full for the event on July 27th.

Kleis says if a city-owned venue would have been used they would have built in the added public safety expenses up front.

He says this is not a political issue, and the city treats the bill like any other outstanding expense. He says this bill is no different from other large-scale events in town that require extra security, like Summertime By George or the Earth Day Half Marathon, where those organizers get billed.

Another event would be the Air Show that was held at the St. Cloud Regional Airport several years ago, that large scale event required a lot of extra time by city staff and was paid for by the organizers not the city.

Kleis says, despite the extra costs, the city would not have said no to the campaign.

We can't say no you can't come because we can't afford it, that would violate the constitution and free speech and the right to assemble.  But there should be a mechanism to help pay for it.

City reserves have been used to make sure the staff got paid.

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