HARRISBURG- Harrisburg officials have pulled city police officers from the Great American Outdoor Show this year after negotiations collapsed over an NRA donation.

Although Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse cited the donation as one of several reasons the city is "not supporting the show," he admits he's "no fan of the NRA." He noted the National Rifle Association had "explicitly worked against the city's interest" in promoting a Pennsylvania law that opened the city up to expensive lawsuits.

The National Rifle Association won a five-year contract to take over the annual outdoor show in 2014 after a previous promoter ran into problems. As part of the NRA's bid, the gun group pledged to keep a portion of its fundraising proceeds in the region.

Papenfuse and Police Chief Thomas Carter interpreted that pledge to mean the proceeds would benefit the host municipality: Harrisburg. And last year, the NRA Foundation gave the city a fully outfitted police car worth $50,000.

But the NRA Foundation this year plans to give its annual $50,000 donation to three shooting sport groups and a museum in the region. NRA officials declined to name the groups, saying they planned an announcement soon. The recipients' applications were chosen over Harrisburg's application for the grant.

"They touted a commitment to help the local city," Papenfuse said. "They haven't lived up to that arrangement."

Carter said he thought the police department would benefit each year under the NRA's five-year contract to host the show.

"Who's the bad partner here?" Carter said. "It's not us."

But NRA officials said they never made a commitment to use the annual donation strictly for Harrisburg. And they said the bylaws for the foundation don't allow them to commit to annual payments.

"The foundation's by-laws are very specific as to where the money can go," said Lars Dalseide, an NRA spokesman. "If nothing else, we can't let a third party (the mayor) decide where the money would go."

The show brings millions in economic impact to the area and the NRA already pays about $200,000 annually in amusement taxes, which are split by the city and school district.

"Thanks to our leadership, outreach, and organization, the show grew which resulted in a growth of the taxes and fees grew as well," Dalseide said. "Bottom line is the National Rifle Association has been good to the city of Harrisburg."

Dave Black, president of the local business chamber who participated in the selection of the NRA to run the show, said he believes the NRA is living up to its obligation.

"They pledged support for the community," Black said. "Maybe there was a misunderstanding."

Black said the NRA's pledge was verbal, and not in writing.

One of the NRA's other pledges was to have three staff members in Harrisburg full-time. Dalseide said they opened an office in Hummelstown, which is in the Harrisburg area, with three staff members.

The annual donation was one of two points of contention between the NRA and Harrisburg officials over this year's Great American Outdoor Show at the Farm Show Complex. The show is scheduled for Feb 6-14.

Papenfuse also wanted to increase the hourly rate paid to police officers who work off-duty at the event to $50 from $30. Papenfuse said the higher amount represents the typical rate paid by companies that want to hire off-duty officers for security, but NRA officials said they don't pay that high of a rate even in larger cities for other shows.

The previous $30 rate was artificially low, both sides agreed, Papenfuse said.

The NRA agreed to raise the rate gradually over three years to $40 per hour. But the disagreement over the annual grant from the NRA Foundation torpedoed the whole deal.

By not allowing officers to work the NRA's outdoor show, Harrisburg is losing about $10,000 in fees that it would have received from the officers' pay. The city takes a 10-percent cut from off-duty pay to offset insurance costs and liabilities.

Plus, Dalseide said the NRA offered to try to get the city a smaller grant this year of $25,000. But the mayor refused because it could not be an ongoing commitment, Dalseide said.

"We were looking at a yearly commitment," Papenfuse said. "I don't think our ask was extraordinary. They rejected the framework of the deal."

A number of Harrisburg officers will still provide traffic assistance outside the complex for the show, Papenfuse said, since that's part of the city's obligation to public safety. The NRA pays the city nearly $27,000 for the hours that the officers spend directing traffic.

Papenfuse said he and Carter were comfortable pulling the officers from working inside of the show because it represented a strain on the small department anyway.

A police captain typically took off work the entire month of December to plan for the show and schedule officers to cover 40 positions, or 3,000 hours of officers' time. The captain earned $35 hourly from the NRA for his work.

The majority of officers take vacation time to pick up shifts at the show, but some officers would work double shifts. Officers who take vacation to work at the show are not available for overtime assignments important to the city, the mayor said.

"I was willing to honor the original agreement if they had a strong community presence," Papenfuse said. "Had they been willing to stick with that, we could have worked it out."

As it stands, the police chief must approve all requests by officers to work off-duty and he made it known that he will not approve any requests for the NRA's show this year.

Rank and file officers aren't pleased with the pull out, which comes after 30 years of working at the show. Many officers built their vacation time around the show, and counted on the large amount of extra money they could earn in a short amount of time.

Carter said he planned to compensate the officers by paying more overtime this year under a project approved by city council last July to add patrols to the city's toughest neighborhoods. The city last year earmarked $250,000 of federal Community Development Block Grant money for the overtime patrols.

That new effort is planned to start in February and continue throughout the year, Carter said.

"I'd rather have my officers working overtime, cleaning up the city than standing around at the show," Carter said. "That will continue long after the show is gone. We're here to protect citizens of the city."

Officers who work off-duty at the outdoor show typically fill security posts, escort money, protect VIPs, provide K9 sweeps and handle all criminal acts and security breaches within the show.

Because Harrisburg pulled out, the NRA is going to fill the roughly 40 positions with officers from the surrounding townships and Dauphin County, Dalseide said. He did not yet know the hourly rate charged by other agencies as they have just begun talks.

Looming in the background of the fight over the outdoor show is Harrisburg's efforts to protect its gun ordinances, which came under fire after lobbying by the NRA.

The NRA lobbied Pennsylvania legislators for a law, known as Act 192, that opened the door for gun rights groups to sue municipalities to challenge gun ordinances. The law took effect last year. The groups believe municipal gun ordinances are illegal under the state's preeminence in regulating guns.

Act 192 has since been ruled unconstitutional by a judge, but Harrisburg still incurred about $100,000 in legal fees, fighting two lawsuits that remain active against the city.

"The NRA explicitly worked against the city's interests," Papenfuse said. "We don't want to support anything that runs counter to the efforts of public safety. This was one action we could take to withdraw internal support for the show."

Papenfuse said he doesn't think the Farm Show should host gun shows in a city besieged by gun violence. He also takes issue with Dauphin County Commissioners giving the NRA a gaming grant each year of about $75,000 to subsidize the outdoor show.

County officials did not respond to a request for comment about the gaming grants to the NRA. But Farm Show officials said they have contracts in place for the outdoor show and an annual gun show.

"Each of those shows has a significant economic impact in the region," said Brandi Hunter-Davenport, press secretary for the state's Department of Agriculture. "The staff at the complex will continue to work with the show organizers to bring these events to the region."

UPDATE: This article was updated to clarify that the NRA declined to name the grant winners and that the city's overtime patrols will continue throughout the year.