MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey provided an update on the costs of President Donald Trump's Minneapolis rally in October.
In a press conference Tuesday, Frey said the total costs for the President's visit came out to be $542,733 — a little more than $12,000 higher than the initial estimate. The balance is still outstanding.
According to Frey, the city of Minneapolis has a contract with AEG Worldwide, which has a management contract with the Target Center -- the venue that hosted President Trump's rally. Frey said AEG then contracted the Trump campaign.
After Frey gave AEG a cost estimate in October, AEG threatened to cancel the rally. Trump’s campaign threatened to sue AEG, and the rally went on as planned.
"The reason that we contract with AEG is so that we have a managing agent of the Target Center that ultimately helps generate resources for City Hall," Frey said. "We have monies that come in in the form of both sales and entertainment tax. If the costs that we incur during those events to account for safety rise dramatically above the resources that we're generating in the form of taxation, that's a problem and it probably says that it's an event that's not worth doing."
Frey offered a more in-depth breakdown of the costs:
- Third-party contracted barriers outside Target Center: $48,774
- Minneapolis Police Department personnel costs: $392,139
- Minneapolis Public Works personnel cost: $30,191
- Minneapolis Public Works contractor costs for construction sites: $57,000
- Minneapolis Regulatory Services personnel costs: $12,486
- Minneapolis 9-1-1 Center personnel costs: $2,143
“We came forward with the initial estimates of city costs associated with the campaign rally for the sake of transparency and in an effort to protect taxpayers," said Frey. "The city alone should not bear the costs of keeping residents, visitors, and the President safe for a campaign rally, and we will continue to seek reimbursement for the event on behalf of Minneapolis residents and taxpayers.”
