PALM BEACH, Fla. — For local officials here, it was one thing to spar with Donald J. Trump, the developer, over the height of his ficus hedges, the crowds at his Elton John concerts and the roar of jet engines over his private club, Mar-a-Lago.

Mr. Trump would often threaten or cajole. The government would often push back, impose fines or endure lawsuits.

But dealing with Donald J. Trump, the president, is another matter entirely.

Since he was elected, officials in Palm Beach County have quickly granted President Trump’s club permission to build a concrete helipad, allowed the club to host a charity event for the Navy SEAL Foundation featuring a staged shootout between some commandos and pretend terrorists, and agreed to assume the costs, for now at least, of closing roads and providing additional security. Behind every decision was a balancing act between a desire to best serve constituents and a political instinct not to anger the nation’s chief executive.

“Someone asked me, ‘Do you feel like you’re going to get into a sort of combative situation with the president of the United States?’ Did it cross my mind? Yes,” said Dave Kerner, a Democrat on the Board of County Commissioners, a panel that has often been at odds with Mr. Trump in the last 20 years.