Refusing to disclose taxpayer expenses. Is Myrtle Beach SC, or Horry County in the wrong?
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Myrtle Beach taxpayers won’t know how much was spent for recent presidential campaign visits.
Although the public doesn’t know the total cost of providing city services for Vice President Kamala Harris’s and former President Donald Trump’s recent visits, the city also won’t request reimbursement, according to city spokesman Mark Kruea.
Reimbursement for campaign stops are a common practice for local governments who have to take on thousands of dollars in extra and overtime costs that are typically outside their set budgets. For campaign events, cities and counties can see reimbursement from the campaigns that caused the cost to be incurred.
Myrtle Beach Police denied a Freedom of Information Act request by The Sun News to reveal the total cost of each of the visits. Harris came to Myrtle Beach Jan. 6 and Trump on Feb. 10 as part of a campaign rally at Coastal Carolina University’s campus in Conway.
The denial comes after Horry County provided information under a FOIA request for the same information.
Calls to several city council members regarding the visits were not immediately returned Monday.
The responses for both requests were also different.
In response to the request for Harris’ visit, the Myrtle Beach police department’s FOIA coordinator cited Section 30-4-20(c) of the South Carolina Code, “information related to security plans used by a public entity, aside from amounts spent on adopting, implementing, or installing those plans, must be kept confidential and is exempt from public disclosure.
“The number of police officers assigned to provide security for Vice President Harris’s visit clearly constitutes information related to security plans for the event.”
The request was for the amount spent, which is a public record.
In a separate request regarding Trump’s visit, the city was asked how many Myrtle Beach employees worked security for Trump’s visit and how much it cost.
The coordinator replied under the code, “information relating to security plans and devices proposed, adopted, installed, or utilized by a public body, other than amounts expended for adoption, implementation, or installation of these plans and devices, is required to be closed to the public and is not considered to be made open to the public under the provisions of this act.
“Therefore, based on operational security, there are no records responsive to your request.”
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 in January.
Thirty-nine sheriff’s deputies worked during Harris’ visit, costing the county taxpayers more than $7,592.
A breakdown of such costs was not available for other departments, according to Aaron P. Spelbring, Horry County’s FOIA manager.
County Spokesperson Mikayla Moskov said earlier that 52 Horry County Police Department personnel, a different department from the sheriff’s office, worked on Harris’ visit. But a total number, including cost, has not been provided.
The costs for the Horry County Police Department have not been calculated and released yet, but it was not denied on the grounds of citing security.
The total cost to the county for Trump’s visit also has not been completed.
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 failed to pay or ignore requests from cities to reimburse police expenses for campaign events, according to reports 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.
