The mayor of Erie, Pennsylvania, is asking Donald Trump's campaign to reimburse the city tens of thousands of dollars in relation to a 2018 rally that the former president held.
Trump is set to return to Erie, a western Pennsylvania city that helped propel him to the White House in 2016, on Saturday for another rally as he aims to strike up support amongst voters ahead of the 2024 Republican presidential primary. The former president is expected to take the stage to deliver remarks at the Erie Insurance Arena at 6 p.m. ET.
As the former president's campaign prepares for the rally, Erie Mayor Joe Schember is again requesting for Trump to pay the city $35,129 for a rally that he held in 2018, the Erie Times-News reported on Monday. City officials first attempted to bill Trump's campaign for the rally, which attracted 12,000 people to downtown Erie in October 2018, nearly five years prior, but never heard back from Trump's team, the newspaper reported.
The requested funds were related to overtime pay for city employees who were needed to work the event, including police officers, according to the Erie Times-News.
"I think we have to try, and I feel like my team feels the same way," Schember told the newspaper. "We're going to see whether we can get some payment from them in advance this time. It's important to do this because we're talking about taxpayer money being used to help make his visit more safe."
Schember also pointed to the income generated from Trump's rallies, which typically attracts thousands of his supporters, as to why he should be paying cities where he holds rallies. While Trump's campaign, which had more than $35 million on hand at the time, did not pay the city for the 2018 rally, it did pay $17,500 to the arena, the Times-News reported based on Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.
"Trump has been able to bring in millions of dollars for his campaign," the mayor said. "He should be able to easily pay these costs to cities."
Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign for comment via email.
Several cities where Trump has visited have complained about his campaign not paying for increased costs required to ensure his rallies would be held in a safe manner. Local news station KTSM, which is based in El Paso, Texas, reported in November 2022 that the former president's campaign did not submit any payments for a February 2019 rally it held at the El Paso County Coliseum.
Trump's campaign owed the city more than $560,000, which includes a 21 percent late fee, by 2022, KTSM reported.
Newsweek reached out to the El Paso mayor's office via email for comment.
In 2020, Trump's campaign owed nearly $2 million to 14 cities across the country to cover police and public safety costs, Newsweek previously reported. The largest amounts owed at the time were to El Paso and Minneapolis, Minnesota, to which he owed $542,733.
Michael Glassner, who served as Trump's 2020 campaign's chief operating officer (COO), previously deferred to Secret Service when asked about these funds, Politico reported. Secret Service officials, however, said they do not have a mechanism to pay for police overtime due to these rallies.
