EVERETT — The presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both came to Snohomish County last year and departed without leaving behind piles of debt.
That’s not just because they made good on their bills.
They also weren’t asked to pay for many expenses.
When Trump came to Xfinity Arena on Aug. 30, Everett incurred about $79,000 in total costs, approximately $50,500 for police salaries and overtime and the balance for the two-day rental of the arena.
The rental fee was paid on the day of the event, Xfinity general manager Rick Comeau said.
After the event, Xfinity tallied up an additional $7,700 in charges to the Trump campaign that covered expenses incurred during and after the rally: housekeeping, audio-video services, extra staff and the like.
That, too, was paid, Comeau said, and fairly quickly.
“We didn’t have to chase them down or anything like that,” he said.
Political campaigns, especially national ones, have a reputation for sticking local governments with the bill after they’ve left town. Comeau said some people had been worried that the Trump campaign would not pay the Public Facilities District’s bill.
The Center for Public Integrity counted nearly three dozen cases across the country in which the campaigns of Trump, Clinton or Sen. Bernie Sanders left unpaid bills in their wake.
Not every city or agency bills visiting campaigns the same way, so it can be hard to track down exact costs.
During the Trump visit, for example, police from at least nine agencies joined the Everett Police Department to provide security.
Everett ultimately absorbed its own costs, city spokeswoman Meghan Pembroke said.
“We did not seek reimbursement for the Trump visit,” she said.
That was also the case when Hillary Clinton came to the Machinist’s Union Hall at Paine Field on March 22 for a campaign stop, Pembroke said.
The Everett Police Department didn’t estimate the cost of the Clinton visit at the time because they didn’t think it would have been much, she said.
Bryan Corliss, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists District 751, said the union owns the hall outright, and there wasn’t a rental fee associated with the Clinton visit.
“Since it was a union-only event, we were able to categorize it as a political education opportunity,” Corliss said.
The Clinton event at the union hall, which can only hold 400 people, also was much smaller than the Trump rally, which drew 9,134 people to the downtown Everett arena.
The Washington State Patrol also provided security during the Trump visit, including the motorcade from Paine Field to downtown.
The State Patrol incurred $74,000 in costs for that event and did not bill the campaign, said spokesman Kyle Moore.
The State Patrol did not provide security for Clinton’s visit, Moore said.
Dawn Andrew, the finance manager for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, wrote in an email that they also did not provide security for Clinton’s visit. The cost for providing security at the Trump rally was $8,132.68.
“However, no invoice was sent due to (the) history of political campaigns not paying for security services,” Andrew wrote.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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