Presidential visit expenses near $80,000 for local and state agencies
Seaborn Larson
Great Falls Tribune
President Donald Trump's July 5 visit, in which he came and went in less than three hours, cost local, county and state agencies approximately $78,970.
After about $21,000 in revenues to Cascade County, the expenses from Great Falls, Cascade County and Montana Highway Patrols total $57,236.
The Montana Highway Patrol, which deployed 41 troopers to Great Falls for the presidential visit, reported costs at $24,749, including benefits, for the visit, a spokeswoman told the Tribune on Wednesday.
The city of Great Falls' total personnel costs totaled $14,902, deputy city manager Chuck Anderson said, including staff from Parks and Recreation, Great Falls Police Department and Great Falls Fire Rescue.
Cascade County officials previously reported the cost after revenues at $17,585; that's $39,319 in expenses and $21,734 in income. The county's revenues included $12,243 from the concession sales at the Four Seasons Arena, as well as renting the facility, the stage, bleachers and other auxiliary items to Donald J. Trump For President, Inc. for $9,491.57.
More than half of the county's costs came from public works and sheriff's office personnel costs: $20,535 combined.
Helping keep the costs down were the volunteered (donated) hours by additional agencies. Volunteer staff included two deputies from Teton County, two deputies from Chouteau County, eight deputies from Lewis and Clark County, eight officers from the Helena Police Department and 10 volunteers from the Community Emergency Response Team. Those costs will fall to their respective counties, but Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton said it's a courtesy that's been extended between counties before.
In 2015, Cascade County deputies deployed to Lewis and Clark County to assist local law enforcement on a three-day manhunt. So Dutton and Helena officials reached out to Cascade County officials to offer a hand.
"It's something we do for each other," he said. "They invested in us, and so it was time to pay back the debt."
A visit from a sitting president, Dutton added, is well worth the associated costs to agencies, specifically law enforcement.
"I never take any of those visits for granted," said Dutton, who was involved in presidential visits in the 1990s and 1980s. "I don't want to be another Dallas, Texas, in 1963. That kind of thing you take seriously in Montana."