Former Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders’ rally in May left the city of National City feeling burned.
A temporary use permit/special events invoice shows a $28,337.28 bill to Bernie 2016 Inc for use of city services.
The cost for the May rally in which thousands of people attended at Kimball Park to hear the Vermont senator discuss reform in the criminal justice system, equal pay and a higher federal minimum wage, includes the cost of security at $24,165.50.
But officials in National City say the city is left with the bill because Sanders’ campaign has yet to pay them.
In fact, the city has sent the Sanders campaign two delinquent notices seeking payment.
City Attorney Claudia Silva said the city is drafting a formal demand letter to send to Sanders’ campaign, informing them that there is a debt owed to the city and that the city will use any recourse to recovery.
“The city could have various remedies available to it,” she said. “There’s various options and one of those options could be a suit for recovery.”
Silva said as of now a decision has not been made whether the city will pursue legal action against Sanders’ campaign.
An email sent to Sanders’ press office seeking comment for this story went unanswered.
Despite not receiving payment from Sanders, City Manager Leslie Deese said all police officers working the rally have been paid.
“We are not allowed not to pay employees just because someone has not paid,” she said. “We are required to make the payment, so now we’re seeking a reimbursement.”
The money the city used for this rally to pay its officers comes out of the police department’s yearly over-time budget.
The department has an estimated overtime budget based on the numbers worked at events such as the Fourth of July celebration in Kimball park.
The department’s overtime budget is about $650,000, said National City Police Chief Manuel Rodriguez. He said the $24,165.50 owed for security is just over 4 percent of the overtime budget.
Rodriguez said the Sanders rally was an unanticipated cost and not factored into overtime calculations. There are 85 officers in the department, Rodriguez said about 30 to 35 officers were used to cover the rally.
Rodriguez said as a result of not receiving payment from Sanders’ campaign, he might have to ask the city council for additional overtime money.
“It is unfair to have National City taxpayers pay for a national event because somebody was running for president,” he said. “That’s the unfortunate part, but that’s also part of democracy.”
Mayor Ron Morrison said the city worked with the campaign to get fees as low as possible. “You’re always disappointed when someone does not pay their bills,” he said. “And we would hope that they would certainly come through on this. We worked in good faith with them and it turned out to be a very good event, something very positive.”
