Obama Visits Taxing Iowa Taxpayers

SIOUX CITY -- Tickets to see President Barack Obama in Sioux City Saturday were provided to the public for free. But local taxpayers will be footing roughly $10,000 in law enforcement expenses related to the president's visit.

Officials in the Sioux City Police Department and Woodbury County Sheriff's Office said they won't know how much the visit costs them until afterward. But they have an idea, based on past visits by presidents, vice presidents and candidates for those offices.

Donna Forker, Sioux City budget and financial manager, said the Police Department incurred expenses of $5,226 for Vice President Joe Biden's March 28 visit here. Biden visited the Sanford Community Center and Boys Club of Sioux City.

Forker said she expected a similar cost for Obama's visit to Morningside College Saturday evening.

Woodbury County Assistant Chief Deputy Sheriff Doug Boetger said it was hard to estimate how much the president's visit will cost.

"Until this thing is over and we compile everything, I can't really give a dollar sign," he said.

He estimated that similar past visits have cost $3,500-$5,000. Boetger said he couldn't predict whether this visit would result in a similar total.

Law enforcement costs are primarily overtime pay for officers called in to provide security on site, in the motorcade or work in traffic control.

Boetger said 13 deputies will be working Saturday, and about 10 of them will be on overtime.

Sioux City Police spokesman Lt. Mark Kirkpatrick did not say how many additional officers the department would call in, but, like the sheriff's office, most of the department's expenses would be for overtime pay.

With Iowa's recurring role as state up for grabs this election year and Sioux City being a regular stop on the campaign trail, the police department budgets accordingly. Forker said the police budget for this fiscal year includes $15,000 for expenses related to candidate visits. It's an expense the department budgets for every four years, and one that is not reimbursable.

Boetger said the sheriff's office does not budget for such visits because it's hard to predict how many times candidates will come here.

As for Obama's host Saturday night, Morningside College won't see much in costs. Morningside spokesman Rick Wollman said the Obama for America campaign will reimburse the college for staff costs to provide security for equipment overnight Friday and cleaning up after the event. All other arrangements and setup are being handled by the campaign and Secret Service.

"For this event, we are providing them a place and some manpower for which we will be reimbursed," Wollman said.

Morningside will provide the event site, the Hilker Campus Mall, to the campaign for free.

"We have a policy at Morningside where we offer campus facilities free of charge to any political candidate with the requirement it's open to any student or faculty member who wants to attend," Wollman said. "We're treating the visit of the president as any other request we would get from another candidate."