Being at the center of the political universe comes at a price.
City records show Philadelphia police spent more than $4 million on overtime providing protection for presidential candidates who visited the city this year vying for votes.
Records show that over the 22 days that candidates flocked to the city in 2024, police paid an average of $191,423 in overtime.
The Democratic candidates – President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz – visited the city most often and drew the most resources from it. Republican President-elect Donald J. Trump and future Vice President J.D. Vance have visited the city five times, but have usually made more repeated stops in other parts of the state.
Harris’s massive rally outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art on the eve of Election Day was the most costly, earning nearly $1.6 million in police overtime. Coverage of the presidential debate at the National Constitution Center between Harris and Trump cost $1.3 million.
This $4 million tab is only a cost to the city police and does not include additional local funding for 18 candidate visits to nearby suburban precincts.
Upon request, the Pennsylvania State Police typically provides security support for candidate events throughout the state. The agency declined to provide overtime spending figures, but a spokesman said it is always ready to provide necessary support to keep applicants and residents unthreatening.
The Secret Service is typically responsible for requesting assistance from local law enforcement agencies for events and visits, and traditionally the agency has not reimbursed municipalities for these costs. (This is a question that some lawmakers focused on change. U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr., a Republican who represents part of North Jersey, sponsored a bill earlier this year that would authorize the agency to reimburse state and local governments. He remains on the House Judiciary Committee.)
Still, Joe Grace, a spokesman for Mayor Cherelle Parker, said the city has presented expenses to reimburse Harris-Walz for campaign expenses unrelated to police or public safety.
As for police overtime, he said, the city will shoulder those costs, as it has in the past.
“This is part of the Police Department’s ongoing responsibilities to ensure public safety,” he said.
Sgt. Eric Gripp, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department, said the agency is working closely with state and federal partners to balance “the importance of safety with the responsible use of resources.”
“Ensuring the safety of presidential candidates is not just a matter of protocol, but a reflection of our Department’s commitment to maintaining public safety as a whole,” he said, adding that while security comes with costs, the safety of the nation’s leaders, and Philadelphia, is of the utmost importance.
A spokesman for Harris’ former presidential campaign said that “the campaign does reimburse local law enforcement when it directly solicits their support.” The official did not specify how often this happens or under what circumstances.
The Trump campaign had no answers to questions about Philadelphia’s costs. President-elect has come under fire in the past for not responding municipalities’ applications for reimbursement of costs. For example, officials in the city of Erie, Pennsylvania, requested a refund of $40,330 for Trump’s 2018 and 2023 visits but received no response. – reports the Erie Times-News.
Although overtime related to presidential events represents only a fraction of the Philadelphia Police Department’s $877 million annual budget, the expenses came in another year of record costs for the city and the department.
That’s partly why Lauren Cristella, president of the Committee of the Seventy, a nonprofit that advocates for better spending and government oversight, said campaigns should cover the fees associated with their visits.
“Events related solely to campaign activities should not burden local taxpayers, especially in a city that is already managing record overtime costs,” Cristella said in a statement.
She added: “If campaigns see these events as crucial to their strategy, they should also recognize their responsibility to cover the true costs of ensuring their safety and success. Doing so supports Philadelphia’s fiscal health and ensures that local resources remain focused on serving residents.”
Overtime costs in Philadelphia are expected to increase 8% this fiscal year across city governments, to $285 million. City officials say the expenses are due in part to persistent vacancies among city workers and rising employee pay rates.
Nearly half of all overtime comes from police, and it is estimated that it will cost the city more than $120 million by the end of the fiscal year.
Last year, police earned $100 million in overtime, a 36% increase over the previous year’s total.
Rising costs are due in part to ongoing staffing shortages, Gripp said, as well as higher wages under the union contract. He added that the agency is currently short about 1,300 officers.
The city and department noted that increased overtime expenses are offset by decreased payroll expenses resulting from vacancies.
Vacancies – and the overtime that comes with them – are a problem in departments across the city. Nearly one in five municipal jobs are unfilled, and officials say this makes it arduous to control overtime work.
