By Jeff Ostrowski, Palm Beach Post

Uncle Sam will reimburse the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for $5.6 million in overtime paid by the agency during President Donald Trump’s visits during the 2017-18 fiscal year.

The Department of Homeland Security broke the news to Sheriff Ric Bradshaw in a letter last month.

“Congratulations, on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security, your application for financial assistance submitted under the Fiscal Year 2018 Presidential Residence Protection Assistance Grant has been approved in the amount of $5,623,392.21,” the letter said.

The federal approval was something of a formality. A congressional budget agreement signed by Trump last year set aside $41 million to repay local law enforcement agencies for “extraordinary ... personnel costs” to protect the president when he visited his private residences in Palm Beach, New York and New Jersey.

A similar pot of federal money was used in 2017 to reimburse Palm Beach County taxpayers for $3.4 million in security costs incurred during the first three months of Trump’s presidency.

Most of the 2017-2018 law enforcement costs were racked up by the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, which takes the lead among local agencies in assisting the Secret Service during presidential visits. The agency spent $5.6 million on overtime during Trump’s 2017-18 trips.

Bradshaw assigned 693 sworn and civilian staff work 65,000 hours to protect Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and their son.

The sheriff’s office is also responsible for providing security protection for foreign leaders as well as international organizations hosting conferences, summits or meetings here. The time period covered by the reimbursement request includes a summit at Mar-a-Lago between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in April 2018.

West Palm Beach and Palm Beach also asked for reimbursement for presidential security. West Palm Beach city officials sought $117,527 for police overtime. The town of Palm Beach requested $57,613.

“While the president must be protected wherever he goes, his many trips to Mar-a-Lago lead to huge expenses for law enforcement and local budgets,” said U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach. “These reimbursements will provide some much needed relief, and I’ll keep working to make sure our community is provided with fair and timely federal compensation as long as Trump continues to visit.”

The funding reimbursement does not cover costs related to Trump’s 2018-2019 visits. The president has made six trips to Mar-a-Lago beginning last Thanksgiving.

The president did cancel a planned 17-day stay at Mar-a-Lago over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays due the government shutdown.

Overall, Trump has made 23 presidential visits to his Palm Beach club.