Dallas officials expect to seek federal reimbursement for city resources used during President Donald Trump’s Republican midterm convention, but they do not yet know the event’s cost or how much the federal government would cover.
City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, asked about the potential cost to taxpayers of the Sept. 9–10 gathering at the American Airlines Center, said she was awaiting more details about what the convention might require of the city.
“I’m hoping to hear more because I keep asking, when are we gonna know what they’re doing?” she said Friday after speaking to The Dallas Morning News editorial board.
Tolbert said that if the convention creates additional costs, the city would typically establish a separate pay code for officers to record the extra hours they work. That would allow Dallas to calculate its expenses and submit them for possible reimbursement, as it did for the FIFA World Cup events.
She said federal reimbursement is common when an event requires the city to commit additional resources, but she did not know how much would be covered.
“Generally, that’s what happens if they’re going to require us to pull a certain number of our resources to support it,” Tolbert said. “Then there’s typically a federal government reimbursement. I just don’t know what the level is going to be.”
Public Safety Chief Dominique Artis said after The News meeting that detailed planning is only beginning.
“We’re just starting now to really get into how this thing is gonna roll out with the White House,” Artis said. “They’re taking the lead, and so as we go through the planning phase, we’ll start understanding costs.”
Tolbert said Dallas has the public safety network needed to support the Republican convention.
“The good thing is that we have the infrastructure,” she said. “We’ve got the public safety ecosystem that’s important. They’re kind of just controlling everything right now.”
Mayor Eric Johnson spoke Tuesday at a media reception where he promoted Dallas as the convention’s host city but made no mention of what the event could cost or whether city expenses would be fully reimbursed.