Politics & Government

Presidential Visit Cost City, Kent State About $8,500

Obama campaign will reimburse university for part of costs from campaign rally at MACC

The bulk of the cost of President Barack Obama's campaign stop in Kent last week will be split between the city of Kent and Kent State University.

University officials are planning to bill the Obama for America Campaign for $6,000 in costs related to the president's visit to campus Wednesday.

Combine that with the $2,449 spent by the city on personnel and the president's visit should cost Kent and the university about $8,500 total.

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Kent Police Chief Michelle Lee said the $2,449 accounted for all safety personnel assigned by the city.

"We were able to use on-duty officers and adjust their hours to keep (overtime) costs to a minimum," Lee said.

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That's less than half of what city officials initially anticipated the cost would be.

At Kent State, the university will be reimbursed by the president's campaign for up to $6,000 in costs related to his visit. That figure excludes costs associated with having university police officers assist the U.S. Secret Service on security detail, according to university officials.

Kent State spokesperson Eric Mansfield said in an email the Obama campaign signed a contract to pay a fixed amount related to expenses.

Such paid university expenses included feeding national press members, who travel with the president and will be billed by the Obama campaign as part of the reimbursement.

"The campaign and the Secret Service do not reimburse for security costs," Mansfield said. "The Secret Service and the White House security teams were both here in mass at no cost to the university. Certainly the positive press of seeing 'Kent State' over and over again throughout the national media coverage was extremely powerful and successful."

Kent and the university weren't the only entities to incur costs related to Obama's visit.

Brimfield Police Chief David Oliver said he estimated his department's cost of assisting the Secret Service as the president's motorcade traveled to Kent from the Akron Canton Airport to be about $5,000, including wages, staffing changes, overtime, vehicles and other costs.     

The Portage County Sheriff's Office also provided personnel and equipment during Wednesday's visit. The sheriff's costs were unavailable.


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