Trump Doral – Florida lawmakers are split in budget negotiations over whether to fund nearly all of Doral’s police overtime bill for Trump and other dignitaries, with the House seeking $375,000 and the Senate offering no money.
Negotiations over Florida’s budget are hitting a familiar flashpoint: how to pay for the security costs of protecting President Donald Trump at his Trump National Doral Miami resort and golf club.
With the state’s special budget session underway. lawmakers remain divided over a relatively small appropriation aimed at helping Doral’s police department cover rising overtime expenses tied to presidential and dignitary visits.. The House has proposed $375,000, roughly half of what city officials say they need.. The Senate, by contrast, has offered nothing.
The request would be funded through nonrecurring state money.. Doral, through matching forms filed by Miami Springs Sen.. Bryan Ávila and Hialeah Rep.. Alex Rizo. is asking the state for $750. 000 to offset costs incurred by the Doral Police Department when Trump and other prominent figures come to town.
Doral Police Chief Edwin Lopez, who recently accepted a job leading the Miami Police Department, signed off on the application.. The move comes months after Ryan Routh. the attempted assassin who targeted Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club in September 2024. was sentenced to life in prison.. The case pushed security operations higher across Trump’s Florida properties, including Doral, where Trump has made frequent appearances.. Earlier this year, he showed up for the PGA Tour Cadillac Championship.
At that tournament. Cameron Young said the resort appeared “crawling” with agents and police. and that some security personnel blocked his usual route to the locker room.. His comments underscored how much the presence of federal security details and local law enforcement can disrupt ordinary life even at major sporting events.
The House request frames the funding as support for overtime expenses.. “The goal of this project is to secure overtime funding for expenses incurred by the Doral Police Department during POTUS and dignitary-related events at the Trump National Doral Resort. ” it says. adding the funds would help the department “recover costs associated with providing security support to federal agencies during elevated national-security operations.”
Doral has committed $500. 000 in local funds toward the effort. and is seeking state support for the remaining 60% of a projected $1.25 million total.. The applications indicate the money would be used almost entirely for officer overtime for personnel assigned to presidential and dignitary protection details.
Trump National Doral routinely hosts U.S. and international dignitaries and draws large crowds, protesters, and supporters, according to the filings. That mix is part of why the city argues the overtime bill continues to climb.
The politics of paying for this kind of security work is not new. Doral secured $250,000 for similar protection costs last year, but Gov. Ron DeSantis later vetoed that funding.
If the state clears the request this year, Doral said it does not expect to return for recurring state support in future years. Ávila and Rizo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lobbyist Heather Turnbull of Rubin Turnbull & Associates worked on the appropriations requests.
The Legislature’s budget Special Session began Tuesday and is expected to run through May 29, leaving lawmakers a limited window to resolve whether Doral’s police department will receive any state funding this cycle.
Florida budget negotiations Trump Doral security police overtime funding Ron DeSantis veto Bryan Ávila Alex Rizo
so taxpayers gotta pay for his golf trips now
wait i thought the federal government was supposed to cover all of this not the state of florida?? like isnt that what secret service is for. this whole thing seems like someone is trying to double dip or something i dont fully get it but it doesnt seem right
this is literally because of that guy who tried to shoot him at the golf course remember that, so now every single time he goes anywhere they have to send like hundreds of cops and it costs the city a ton of money and nobody wants to actually pay for it so they just argue about it in meetings while the police department is sitting there running out of money for overtime. and then people wonder why local cops are always underfunded. its not even really a Trump thing its just a broken system thing but nobody wants to say that because everything has to be political now. i mean 750 thousand dollars is not even that much when you think about what the state spends on other stuff
didnt they just sentence that Ryan Routh guy like last week or something, i saw that on the news. anyway i feel bad for the golfers honestly that tournament looked like a mess with all the security blocking everything