Toledo councilman concerned about political rallies' cost to taxpayers
President Trump’s January visit cost the city $85,000, but brought in at least $1.5 million.
By Sarah Elms / The Blade
Thu, 23 Jan 2020 20:05:37 GMT
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Toledo City Councilman Larry Sykes is worried about how quickly overtime costs for the city’s streets and public safety crews could grow if more presidential candidates make Toledo a stop on the campaign trail leading up to the November election.
“Imagine if 13 candidates for U.S. President showed up in Toledo at a cost of $50,000 in security expenses to the city of Toledo. That could equate to $650,000 in unbudgeted expenses to the city,” Mr. Sykes told his fellow councilmen at a meeting Thursday. “However, even if there were only six candidates it would be $300,000.”
Mr. Sykes’ estimates could be conservative. The city spent about $85,000 in overtime to staff the Jan. 9 campaign rally for President Donald Trump at the Huntington Center, which drew thousands downtown.
Toledo Police had 166 officers working during the event, 145 of which were on overtime. The department’s overtime costs came in at about $52,000, which includes some pre-event training, Lt. James Brown told council members Thursday.
Toledo’s streets, bridges, and harbor crews dedicated 14 employees and 13 city trucks between the day of the rally and the day after for crowd control and clean up. That work cost nearly $24,000, said Paul Rasmusson, the city’s director of public service.
“The majority of that was labor,” he said. “We had 12 snow plows prepped and ready, minus the plows, loaded with salt and parked in various spots throughout the event area. That was all meant for crowd control and eliminating access, but we had to keep our employees with that truck at all times should it need to be moved.”
The Toledo Fire & Rescue Department had 44 people assigned to various posts during the rally, with 25 working overtime, Chief Brian Byrd said. The department’s overtime costs totaled just under $9,000 for the event.
Mr. Sykes said he is concerned about the city footing the bill for what he said is a private event with no public function. The councilman, a Democrat, said his concerns have nothing to do with a political figure’s party affiliation.
“What is our legal obligation if these candidates come here just for rallies and not to visit the mayor, and not to visit our automobile industry, or look at the problems we’re having with our waterfront?” he said. “This is something that I want us to look at, and how when we move forward do we address this because if this would happen it would bust our budget.”
Lieutenant Brown said it’s the responsibility of the city’s public safety forces to keep the peace and direct traffic at any event, political or otherwise, and each department makes staffing decisions accordingly. Toledo Police have been on hand for campaign rallies in the city in past years, and in 2015 the city spent about $100,000 on police overtime to work a neo-Nazi rally.
“We’re on the hook, unfortunately, for any event,” he told Mr. Sykes.
He said a presidential visit is especially costly, though, because of the heightened security required by the Secret Service.
“We have several meetings with the Secret Service leading up to the event,” he said. “For the actual president and vice president, there’s considerably more security required. A candidate that isn’t protected by Secret Service would not garner the same amount of resources.”
He added the city had help from both the Lucas County Sheriff’s office and Ohio State Highway Patrol to ensure President Trump’s Toledo visit went smoothly.
Cindy Kerr, vice president of operations for downtown development group ConnecToledo, estimated about 20,000 people were downtown for the rally Jan. 9. That estimate is based on the number of people who made it into the Huntington Center, the number who were still in line, and the number of people who came to either protest outside the venue or just take in the sights.
Conservatively, ConnecToledo believes each person spent at least $75 on gas and food. That’s $1.5 million, and that figure doesn’t count the money people who stayed the night spent on hotel accommodations.
“One of the restaurateurs told me that besides Mud Hens opening day and St. Patrick’s Day, this was their next biggest day,” Ms. Kerr said. “We know that we will have other presidential candidates that come through, and with every one that comes through, there is a positive economic impact.”