President Donald Trump speaks to a standing room only crowd Nov. 1 at the Columbia Regional Airport during a rally for Senator-elect Josh Hawley. The visit cost Columbia and other government agencies more than $40,000. The city of Columbia says it will not seek reimbursement for extra police security requirement during the campaign rally. [Don Shrubshell/Tribune file] ▲

Columbia taxpayers will apparently fund the lion's share of security costs for President Donald Trump's November rally at Columbia Regional Airport to stump for Josh Hawley in the days leading up to the midterm election.

The combined cost for various municipal resources needed to host the Nov. 1 event was approximately $41,000, according to invoices obtained by the Tribune through open records requests. The biggest portion of that amount was for security provided by Columbia Police Department, about $30,378 with salaries, overtime and benefits.

Acting city manager John Glascock said Thursday the city does not plan to seek any reimbursement of those expenditures, because when the president shows up, "it's a big deal."

"When the president comes, be it campaign, presidential, we honor the president being here," Glasscock said. "We've never done that to my knowledge, ask for payment, not as it involves the president of the United States. When the president comes everybody gets prepared and it is a big deal."

Columbia Public Works' personnel cost was about $4,820. Airport personnel costs of about $1,050 were included in the total. City spokesman Steve Sapp agreed the expense was something the city felt it should bear.

He said Boone County Emergency Management had requested agencies providing security for the rally submit their expenses. The cost to the Boone County Sheriff's Department was about $4,489.

"Speaking with EM officials today, they have not found an avenue to recoup any of the costs associated with the presidential visit," Sapp said.

Sapp also pointed out there were likely some benefits to offset the cost in the way of visitor impact. Some in attendance drove from other states or the far reaches of Missouri for the chance to see Trump.

Those visitors likely stayed in local hotels, ate at local restaurants and purchased essentials or gifts from local retailers. Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau spokeswoman Megan McConachie said a large portion of the audience were "visitors," defined as traveling 50 miles or more to the event.

"There was definitely a large portion of the audience that came in we would define as a visitor," McConachie said. "So I would say when they are able to visit the city, or stay overnight, and able to patronize the businesses here, that would definitely have a beneficial financial impact on the city."

However, because of the short notice of the visit, McConachie said the bureau was not able to conduct an economic impact study.

"Because it was out at the airport, pretty far away from city limits, there really is not any sort of concrete number," McConachie said. "Because it was a one-day event, there was not anything we could measure as far as increased hotel expenses or increased restaurant visits."

While local taxpayers are covering costs for the Trump rally, they did not support him in the 2016 presidential election.

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won Boone County by almost 5,000 votes out of about 77,000 cast for her or Trump in November 2016. And despite Trump stumping for him at the rally, Democrat Claire McCaskill beat Hawley in Boone County midterms by a 16-percent margin.

CoMo for Progress, an advocacy group affecting policy that "bolsters freedom, equality, and humanity to better serve local, national and global communities," said as the city struggles for resources the outlay of taxpayer dollars on a "campaign" event was questionable.

"At a time when our state and city face economic hardships, it's hard for us to imagine that this was a good use of resources, when the President's only goal was to come to town to promote Josh Hawley for Senate," organizers Rebecca Shaw and Kate Canterbury said in a joint statement. "It seems this was a use of taxpayer funds for a campaign event, which is yet another example of unethical behavior by this president.

"We don't believe the taxpayers should cover security costs for a campaign rally and hope the city would request any legally available reimbursements."

Ashland also chipped in for the president's visit. Five of its police officers were assigned to control the parking and shuttle detail at Cartwright Technology Park for an overtime expense of about $489. The street department also provided drivers to pull trams to assist with the safe movement of pedestrians at an overtime expense of $554.

Missouri State Highway Patrol also provided security for the event, however, an open records request for payroll records and other documents submitted days after the visit was not returned as of press time. The patrol said it is working on providing the information.

ppratt@columbiatribune.com

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