PALM BEACH: County Officials Seek To Recoup Millions In Security Costs By Taxing Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Club

The Palm Beach Post reports:

President Donald Trump has taken to calling his Mar-a-Lago spread on Palm Beach the “winter White House.” Palm Beach County Commissioner Dave Kerner wonders if it should have another name: “municipal service benefit unit.”

Kerner’s name is far less catchy than Trump’s, but it could give the county a way to impose a special tax on Trump to reimburse the county for the millions it has shelled out for roadway management and security assistance during the president’s frequent trips here.

The tax would not be a property tax, Kerner said. Instead, it would be a tax pegged to the value of any “special benefit” the county has provided to Mar-a-Lago’s owner — Trump. At Kerner’s request, County Attorney Denise Nieman is researching the idea of the municipal service benefit unit, which Kerner said has not yet been used in the way he envisions.

The commissioner and other county officials are increasingly frustrated with federal inaction on their requests for reimbursement. In mid-February, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw estimated that the cost of providing help during Trump visits had reached about $1.4 million. An analysis provided by PBSO on Tuesday, which included non-overtime costs for Trump’s three trips in February and the one earlier this month, included about $570,000 in costs.