- County officials estimated they spent $30,000 to pay county law enforcement and EMS providers. Meanwhile, the city of Pickens supposedly spent just over $10,000.
- Currently, there are no federal or state laws about campaigns reimbursing cities for security purposes.
- Recent county council meeting revealed the city had not signed a formal contract with the Trump campaign.
- Trump campaign has a history of not paying for security provisions.
- County officials are debating the use of tourism tax dollars to offset expenses
Pickens County Council is expected to pay nearly $40,000 to offset costs borne out of the July 1 Trump rally, which coincided with the city of Pickens’ own Independence Day event.
The council is planning on using ATAX or accommodation tax funds, collected every time a visitor books a hotel or an Airbnb, to give overtime pay to the local law enforcement and emergency service providers who were called in to work over the weekend. This was first reported by the Seneca Journal.
But as the council discusses spending 57% of the remaining $70,000 ATAX fund reserves, the question remains, who should foot the bill to provide security for a presidential campaign event?
The six-person Pickens County Council agreed law enforcement and emergency service providers needed to be paid for the extra work. If county officials were involved, the county should assure their payment, they discussed.
But opinions diverge on whether or not the county should recoup security expenses for campaign events using tourism dollars.
Funding presidential campaign events
The concern about how presidential campaigns fund their events is expected to grow as the state gears up for the upcoming primary season. Democrats are holding their First in the Nation primary Feb. 3. Meanwhile, Republicans have their First in the South primary marked for Feb. 24.
During a July 17 meeting, Claiborne Linvill, the lone Democrat in the County Council, said South Carolina will see multiple candidates parachute into the state to connect with voters. Several candidates are expected to hold events in rural spaces such as Pickens to make their case and are likely to interact with local bodies that do not generate revenues like bigger cities such as Greenville and Charleston.
Currently, there are no federal or state laws about campaigns reimbursing cities for security purposes. Overall, local bodies choose to pay for security expenses during election cycles.
But council discussions show the city of Pickens couldn't recover money from the Trump campaign even if it wished to request a reimbursem*nt.
Pickens mired in a lack of documentation
In preparation for the July 1 event, Pickens City Administrator Charlene Carter told the Greenville News previously that the Trump campaign promised the city would bear no additional costs. The campaign was expected to pay for the staging and have the U.S. Secret Service coordinate security provisions with local law enforcement.
The only event the city planned to pay for would be its July 1 Independence Day event that coincided with the rally, Carter said.
More than 10,000 visitors showed up for the rally under the sweltering heat and emergency service providers worked around the clock. The Trump campaign told the News that they average a local impact of $3.5 million with out-of-town supporters bringing in significant revenue.
Kenny McPeters, chairman of Pickens County Emergency Services Board, estimated at least 50 people, mostly elderly, were treated with air conditioning and water at a temporary shelter inside Pickens First Baptist Church only two blocks from where Trump spoke. Some were transported to a local hospital for further treatment.
Most attendees dispersed after Trump's speech. Much of the law enforcement presence was centered to protect the crowd that converged during the rally.
But the recent county council meeting revealed the city had not signed a formal contract with the Trump campaign and was on shaky grounds if it wanted to invoice any expenses related to the rally to the campaign.
Carter and Pickens Mayor Fletcher Perry did not respond to requests for information or comments.
Recovering security costs for Trump campaign caught up in regulatory dead zone
When the discussion about using ATAX dollars arose, officials asked county lawyer Les Hendricks to prepare a memo to see if the county could request reimbursem*nt for expenses “wherein Former President Trump has been invited to speak at a publicly owned Pickens Amphitheater.”
The memo, obtained by the Greenville News, stated political campaigns are not required to pay for government services for campaign events. Moreover, the Federal Election Commission has no guidelines or requirements related to campaigns utilizing local machinery, and the U.S. Congress does not fund the Secret Service with money that can be used as reimbursem*nts.
“Absent a contract, local governments incur the cost,” the memo stated.
Current Federal Election Commission filings show former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley paid local bodies in New Hampshire for security purposes. Sen. Tim Scott paid SLED to staff presidential campaign events in the state.
As a former president, Trump does get Secret Service protection. But his Trump campaign, known to host large-scale rallies, has been flagged by other municipalities.
Previous reporting by the Center for Public Integrity and Texas Tribune showed the Trump campaign owed 14 local municipalities $1.82 million in security-related costs for large-scale rallies held across the country.
The Pickens County memo made suggestions to alleviate the issue ― first and foremost, the need for a contract.
Cities like Nashville, where Trump rallied in 2017 and 2018, used city-owned facilities and signed contracts to ensure security costs were paid. But if rallies are held in private venues and city officials want to recover money spent, “they must bill the Trump campaign after the fact and hope it will pay,” the memo said.
Other solutions could come from Congress. Money could be allocated to the Secret Service to reimburse local governments. Federal campaign finance laws would need to be amended to require presidential candidates to account for public safety invoices, the memo stated.
The Greenville News reached out to Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is part of Trump's S.C. leadership team, to ask if the U.S. Congress had any plans to address the issue of allocating funds to the Secret Service. A spokesperson said they were not expecting any change in this long-standing policy.
Nevertheless, these solutions are unlikely to resolve the county's immediate issue following Trump's rally.
Pickens council debates use of tourism dollars to pay for campaign event expenses
County officials estimated they spent $30,000 to pay county law enforcement and EMS providers. Meanwhile, the city of Pickens spent just over $10,000, County Councilor Alex Saitta clarified during the meeting.
But the city's lack of paperwork was not just a pre-rally issue, recent council discussions show.
Once city officials realized the extra funds needed to pay for service providers, they looked to the county to utilize tourism dollars. But while doing so, they did not submit a formal ATAX application.
Pickens County Public Information Officer Jamie Burns told the Greenville News that the county clerk and council expressed concern earlier this month over the lack of documentation provided by the city.
Saitta, who represents the district surrounding Pickens, said he wanted to allocate $7,000 worth of tourism funds to the city, but another amendment by fellow Councilman, Henry Wilson, increased the allocation.
Chair Chris Bowers hinted at a sense of urgency in paying service providers their dues, who had no "political buy-in" to the event and were only doing their jobs protecting residents. Bowers said he asked County Administrator Ken Roper to figure out how much money the ATAX fund had to ensure that the county didn’t pay for unexpected expenses from the general fund.
The revenue from accommodation taxes are often used to give grants to organizations that are in a position to host tourism-related activities. Organizations can use the money for advertising, construction and security costs. The deadline to apply for ATAX funding was April 28, 2023.
This year, the county has already given grants worth $155,474 of $225,000 to help events such as the Pickens Azalea Festival and the Senior League World Series held in Easley, according to data provided by Pickens County. If approved, security costs for the Trump event would be the biggest allocation the council will make.
But Linvill asked, why the city couldn't just invoice the Trump campaign?
"I think the precedent you set if you say, 'A campaign can come here and we will cover you with ATAX,' is a dangerous precedent as we are entering an election year and we are a major primary state and they will come to Pickens County,” Linvill said, adding the city of Pickens had partnered with the Trump campaign and led the county to be "stuck" with the bills.
But Saitta resisted the notion that the county was stuck with the bills. He insisted the event had a net positive effect on both the city and the county as it brought many out-of-state visitors.
"I mean to turn around and send (Trump) a bill ... I think it's going to be embarrassing," Saitta said. "They're not going to pay it and they shouldn't have to pay it."
The final approval for funding is likely to come up in the next Aug. 7 meeting.
Devyani Chhetri covers SC politics for the Greenville News. You can reach her at dchhetri@gannett.com or @ChhetriDevyani
