Bernalillo County won’t collect on Trump campaign debt

By Matthew Reichbach

After four years, Bernalillo County can no longer collect unpaid debts. This week, the Bernalillo County Commission voted to remove certain uncollectible debts from the books, including nearly $140,000 owed to the county by the campaign of Donald Trump.

The debt dated back to a 2019 campaign stop in Albuquerque for costs incurred by overtime and other costs from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. The county also had to shut down operations in downtown Albuquerque for security for the event. 

“The county will no longer be seeking payment for the campaign invoice as is standard practice for all items removed from the county’s accounts receivable records,” a Bernalillo County spokesperson told City Desk ABQ. “At this time the debt is classified as time barred debt and is considered uncollectible.”

The county sent an invoice to the Trump campaign in 2019, but did not receive a response.

County commissioner Eric Olivas criticized the lack of payment from the presidential campaign.

“Despite raising billions of dollars for his multiple campaigns, we’re now writing off that debt. He hasn’t paid his bills,” Olivas said. “This isn’t surprising based on what we know about other past business practices and the various things that have been associated with this person.”

Olivas also floated an idea to make sure the situation doesn’t happen again.

“If they are using county services or in any way impacting county services for campaign-related activities, they should have to pay either up front or put down some sort of deposit,” he said.

The practice of removing uncollectible debt from the county’s books is in accordance with state law and legal opinions find it does not violate the New Mexico Constitution’s anti-donation clause. 

The Trump campaign’s debt was part of $571,188.94 in delinquent accounts. Most of that money was owed to the Solid Waste Fund, including billed services and late fees.

Antonio E. Jaramillo, Operations & Maintenance Department Director noted that “solid waste is a mandatory service” and that the county cannot stop operations for lack of payment.

Jaramillo said that the county has other options and has put liens on properties.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said last year that Trump still owed the city more than $200,000.

Correction: This story originally said the county sent and invoice on March 3 of this year. The invoice was sent in 2019 and the date on the document reflected when it was added to the agenda.