Politics & Government

Obama's Kent Stop Cost County $2,700

City, Kent State paid about $8,500 to cover presidential campaign stop last month

The final, combined cost of President Barack Obama's visit to Kent last month was about $16,100 spread across several local entities.

The Portage County Sheriff's Office provided details on the cost of its assistance to the U.S. Secret Service on Sept. 26 to Portage County Commissioners recently.

The sheriff's office cost to provide personnel to assist Kent State University for the campaign rally at the MACC was $2,686, according to Portage County Sheriff David Doak.

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"We rearranged staff hours to have the majority of their time as a part of the actual daily assignment," Doak said. "This kept overtime hours to a minimum."

Of that $2,686, overtime costs were $1,273.

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

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.  

Combine that with the $2,449 spent by the city on personnel and the president's visit should cost Kent, Brimfield, the sheriff's office and the university about $16,100 total.

MORE COVERAGE:

  • Barack Obama's Kent Stop May Not Prove Costly to City


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