Trump, Harris campaign in Myrtle Beach area. Why haven’t local taxpayers been reimbursed?
More than 40 days after a visit by Vice President Kamala Harris to the Myrtle Beach area, the total costs for Horry County and Myrtle Beach to provide emergency services is still unknown.
Now, with former president Donald Trump’s recent campaign rally in Conway, it is unclear whether Horry County or the city of Myrtle Beach will request reimbursement for both visits.
Horry County spokesperson Mikayla Moskov said she did not know if reimbursement would be sought and a response from the city of Myrtle Beach has not been returned.
Thirty-nine sheriff’s deputies worked during Harris’ visit, costing the county taxpayers more than $7,592.
The information came from a Freedom of Information Act request by The Sun News. A similar request also has been filed for former president Donald Trump’s visit on Feb. 10 and presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s visit on Jan. 28.
Trump’s visit covered more miles and a longer period of time and will likely be a higher expense than the Harris visit. It was estimated that Harris was in Myrtle Beach for about two hours.
Both were campaign events and local governments have the option to ask for taxpayer funds to be reimbursed by the campaigns to recoup the expenses. The Trump campaign has in the past failed to pay or ignore requests from cities to reimburse police expenses for campaign events, according to reporting from NBC News.
The Biden campaign in 2020 did reportedly repay some expenses associated with his presidential campaign, according to Business Insider.
The extra last-minute cost of these campaign visits costs local taxpayers, which is why municipalities have the option to seek reimbursement.
There were nearly 100 Horry County personnel, many of those sheriff’s deputies and police officers, who provided security and emergency services for Harris’ visit to Myrtle Beach Jan. 6.
The deputies, whose rate of pay was as high as $39.34 an hour, worked more than 271 hours. One salaried employee, who does not get paid by the hour or overtime, makes $50.48 an hour. Deputies worked between 5 to nearly 10 hours each during Harris’ visit.
A breakdown of such costs was not available for other departments, according to Aaron P. Spelbring, Horry County’s FOIA manager.
There were 52 Horry County Police Department personnel who worked Harris’ visit, Moskov said. It is unclear if all of those are police.
However, Moskov said by email Wednesday that a cost breakdown of those employees have not been compiled. A FOIA request to Myrtle Beach Police for the number of employees and costs has not been returned.
The entry-level salary for an Horry County patrol officer is a little more than $49,000, according to the county. The starting salary for a certified police officer is $60,174 and for a police recruit, $57,657, according to the city.
It is estimated that Harris was in Myrtle Beach for about 2 hours Jan. 6. She arrived at the Myrtle Beach International Airport about noon and began speaking about 1:30 p.m. She arrived back at the airport a little after 2 p.m. to fly back to Washington, D.C., according to White House reports.
But her travel to the Myrtle Beach location required the shut down of highways, including Highway 17, off ramps and side roads leading from the airport prior to her speech at the Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort and after, when she returned to the airport after she spoke.
The costs of such campaign visits can be pricey for cities, which comes at the taxpayer’s expense.
When President Donald Trump visited Lebanon, Ohio, in 2019, the city sent the government a bill for $16,191 for police and other public safety costs, according to a report from the Center for Public Integrity. It was never paid.
In Sioux City, Iowa, President Barack Obama’s visit in 2012 was projected to cost the city roughly $10,000 in law enforcement, according to the Sioux City Journal.
Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to Portsmouth, Ohio, in 2020, cost taxpayers more than $4,600 between police and fire services, according to the Portsmouth Herald.
This story was originally published February 16, 2024 at 9:18 AM.
