You asked: Did taxpayers foot the bill for Charlie Kirk’s memorial?

As journalists, we ask questions all day long. So, we’re turning over the mic, asking Phoenix New Times readers what questions they have about this sprawling city we all call home. In our new series, the Weekly WTF, you get a chance to have your questions heard and, possibly, answered. Together, we can all learn more about what makes metro Phoenix tick.

Recently, Tony from Glendale asked: 

I’m wondering did taxpayers pay for Charlie Kirk memorial at Glendale’s State Farm Stadium? And if so, why?

The short answer to this is: No, not really.

Here’s the longer explanation.

It would be correct to say that the Charlie Kirk memorial at State Farm Stadium on Sept. 21 of last year used taxpayer resources. State Farm Stadium is publicly owned, specifically by the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority. The city of Glendale owns the nearby Desert Diamond Arena, where overflow crowds went during the memorial. Then there were all the other municipal services used in relation to the event, including a huge number of police.

But did taxpayers pay for all that? No. In fact, it was the Kirk-founded Turning Point USA that paid to use them.

We don’t know what Turning Point paid to use the two stadiums. A spokesperson for AZSTA said its event contracts for State Farm Stadium are confidential. Legends Global, which manages events at Desert Diamond Arena for the city, did not respond to questions. But Turning Point would have paid a fee to use the two buildings. We may be able to learn more when the organization’s 990 forms are made public, presumably next month.

We do know that Glendale has been paid back for all the city services it provided in relation to the event. Shortly after the event, Glendale billed AZSTA and Legends Global a combined total of $492,978.86 for costs related to the use of city police, its fire department, ambulance costs, transportation personnel, barricades, emergency management and sanitation. The largest line item among those was policing, which cost the city $351,206.28.

Records obtained by New Times show that AZSTA and Legends Global paid the city back in late October, albeit weeks after payment was due. Turning Point would not pay those costs directly; instead, they’d be worked into whatever they paid AZSTA and Legends Global to use the facilities. So Glendale taxpayers are not on the hook for Kirk’s memorial.

If you want to expand it beyond the city, though, it’s harder to say. After all, President Donald Trump appeared there along with a host of other federal officials. They had to travel there — the president used Air Force One — and the place was under federal surveillance because of the high-profile guest list. It’s doubtful that Turning Point had to foot the bill for all of that. So yes, in that sense, taxpayers paid for it.