YORBA LINDA : U.S. May Be Billed for Nixon Funeral

The city was happy to take center stage to hold the funeral of former President Nixon last month. But now that city officials are facing a $98,000 tab for police, public works and personnel costs, they are hoping the federal government will pay the bill.

Assistant City Manager David A. Gurchow said the thought occurred to him several weeks ago as he was mulling the city’s bills, and he asked Rep. Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar) look into making a formal request for payment on behalf of the city--home to the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace.

Kim could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The assistant city manager’s efforts to divert the costs to Washington aren’t siting well with some.

“I think that if we take the pride in having the Nixon Library & Birthplace here in Yorba Linda, we also take the responsibility,” said Mayor Barbara Kiley, who wrote a poem mourning Nixon’s passing in the days after his death.

“We are also the ones who are going to reap the sales tax revenue, and we have,” she said. “This was a national event. It was an honor. I was proud. I still am, and I knew there was a price tag. I anticipated a price. Anyone who didn’t was overwhelmed by the glitz.”

Kiley said the City Council plans to take up the subject at its June 7 meeting.

The issue of cost never came up when the city--which employs only 84 full-time staff members--learned that Nixon’s funeral would be held not in Washington but on the patch of land where he was born.

Gurchow said he now feels he would be remiss in not seeking some relief for city taxpayers. The city is more than willing to bear the day-to-day costs of the library, including police protection for high-ranking visitors, but Gurchow said a state funeral is different.

“The death of a President of the United States is an extraordinary expense, an extraordinary event. If there’s funding available, I think we owe it to the citizens of Yorba Linda to ask for it,” he said. “If it’s not there, it’s not. But I think we make a valid case.”

The city bore the costs of Pat Nixon’s funeral, including security, and bore similar costs whenever Nixon came to visit.

“Having the library in Yorba Linda does impose an obligation on us, and I think we fulfill that obligation very well,” Gurchow said. “We’re proud to have the library here and we’re proud to have Richard Nixon as our native son. I don’t think seeking reimbursement diminishes that.”

The city’s trash collection and street sweeping services volunteered to clean up for nothing, and local businesses donated food for the hundreds of police officers who directed traffic and kept streets calm during the week of the funeral. The Ralphs grocery chain donated 600 pounds of macaroni salad, Gurchow said.

But Yorba Linda incurred plenty of costs: The city, which contracts with the Brea Police Department, spent $30,500 on police wages and another $21,700 on police overtime; $18,700 in other personnel costs; $26,700 in public works costs for workers to erect and pick up street barriers, cones and barricades that diverted traffic from the library; and $323 on food, Gurchow said.

All but $48,000 are costs that the city would have borne anyway, for daily services, but Gurchow said he’s seeking to recoup the entire $98,235.87 from the federal government because all of the money was spent on funeral expenses.

In the days surrounding the April 27 funeral, tens of thousands of visitors flocked to Yorba Linda, and the ceremony was attended by all living Presidents and dozens of other national figures and foreign dignitaries.

Councilman John M. Gullixson said he talked to local merchants and knows sales were way up during the period surrounding the funeral. But he argues that the federal government actually saved money when it was spared the obligation of hosting the event.

“My view is that basically we could have seen Mr. Nixon lying in state in the (Capitol) rotunda, and there could have been even more expense than was incurred here. In some sense, there was a savings, and if the members of Congress are beneficent enough to help us out here, that would be great with us,” he said. “Kim has picked up the gauntlet, and I’m sure (Rep. Ed) Royce is going to help us.”