Trump’s Montana trip reminds cities of hidden cost of campaign visits

Former President Donald Trump only has one campaign rally scheduled this week, and it’s on Friday in Bozeman, Montana .

It has been six years since Trump’s last visit to Bozeman, and with his return, officials throughout the state are reminded that his campaign still owes them money.

In 2018, Trump held rallies in Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls, and Missoula. At each of those rallies, city officials increased their police presence and incorporated additional security measures. To this day, the Trump campaign has yet to reimburse Missoula County and Billings for rendering a strong police presence for those events.

Officials with Missoula County shared with NBC Montana an invoice that revealed Trump owed the county $12,922.82, which breaks down to “$10,835.41 for officer salaries, $1.059.26 for dispatcher salaries, $693.72 for Office of Emergency Management and $334.43 for miscellaneous expenses” for an Oct. 18, 2018 rally.

A Billings official said the city was never reimbursed the $45,900 required for additional police presence.

However, the Trump 2020 campaign did reimburse Great Falls for $9,372.95 for a July 2018 event in December of that year.

In Wisconsin, Trump’s campaign owes money for a campaign visit dating back to 2016. His most recent visit to Green Bay now has the city on the hook for $33,389.55 for police, fire, public works, and traffic services.

President Joe Biden’s campaign also owed money to Green Bay but has since paid it off.

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However, according to the Federal Election Commission, it is not mandated that campaigns reimburse state or local municipalities for expenses related to supporting security and safety at rallies.

“There is no specific provision in FEC regulations for congressional or presidential campaign committees that speaks to expenses incurred by a state or local municipality in connection with a federal officeholder’s or candidate’s campaign event(s),” FEC public affairs specialist Myles Martin told NBC Montana. “While federal campaigns are permitted to use campaign funds to reimburse for these security costs, Commission regulations do not specifically mandate that they do so.”