Donald Trump Still Owes Newtown $19K For October Rally, Township Officials Say

Who will foot the $19,000 bill for expenses Newtown Township incurred during a Donald Trump campaign rally in October?

That question has yet to be answered. But over the weekend, two supervisors took steps to settle the issue.

Newtown Township Supervisors Jen Dix and Phil Calabro have submitted a letter to Newtown Athletic Club owner Jim Worthington seeking assistance obtaining the $19,230 spent by the township in police and fire overtime during the Oct. 21 rally at the local facility.

Township officials say they have attempted to contact the Trump campaign to submit a bill for the services, but have been unsuccessful in reaching representatives.

"We recognized that these presidential rallies are valuable and exceptional events for the community and you have every right to use your facility to host one. However, we feel it is inappropriate for the taxpayers of Newtown to be stuck with the bill for a political event. We say that regardless of the party affiliation of the candidate," the letter from Dix and Calabro said.

Worthington told Patch he received the letter late Sunday and plans to do everything he can to help the township get reimbursed.

However, he questioned why the fees were not clearly stated and agreed upon from the start.

According to Township Manager Kurt Ferguson, there is not a standard permit fee for political rallies. That's because events of this nature are typically organized in days or hours, with very little time to discuss with Secret Service how much local police coverage is needed, he said.

"Typically campaigns provide about 24 hours notice and we are scrambling to get things in place to provide security," he said, explaining campaign stops, especially those made that late in the election season, are "very last minute."

Ferguson said the township didn't know how much staffing was needed until meeting with the campaign — "oftentimes that can be only hours before the event."

Worthington says he plans to use his connections with the Trump campaign to help obtain reimbursement.

"Certainly I’m not happy (the township) incurred this extra bill," he said, adding the township isn't the only one that has been financially impacted. The event has cost his business in the "hundreds of thousands of dollars" between cancelled memberships and the closures required leading up to the rally, Worthington said.

A breakdown of the costs provided in the letter to Worthington shows the township incurred $17,123 for police overtime. There were 24 officers needed for six hours each at an overtime rate of $118.

Fire expenses were $2,107. Eight paid firefighters were needed for a total of 41 overtime hours at an hourly rate of $51.41.

According to Dix, The Bucks County Democratic Committee has been asked to look into reimbursement from the Clinton campaign for the Tim Kaine rally held at the Community College on Oct. 26. Those costs totaled $5,623.

Image via Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons