ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It seems there are some frustrations over where former President Donald Trump will hold his rally this week.

The former president is scheduled to make a campaign stop at the Sunport on Thursday at noon. He’s expected to speak at the CSI Aviation building.

However, KOB 4 learned his campaign originally wanted to use the Albuquerque Convention Center for the rally.

During a heated Albuquerque City Council committee meeting Monday night, city leaders revealed the convention center is unavailable right now. The city said crews are replacing a collapsed sewer line.

City Council President Dan Lewis said the Trump campaign didn’t receive that answer. Lewis said city leaders responded to their request with an outstanding bill from a 2019 campaign rally. He said that suggests the city is playing politics with the convention center.

Lewis had a tense exchange with Kevin Sourisseau. Sourisseau is the chief financial officer for the City of Albuquerque.

• L: “Did you write that invoice to the campaign?”
• S: “Sir, I’m not going to respond to you until you respect my responses and stop talking over me.”
• L: “I’ll let you go ahead and talk, go for it.”

The back and forth continued:

• L: “Then you’re very aware of the invoice and what’s on it, so thank you.”
• S: “I’ve seen it.”
• L: “Yeah, good, good. And I’d like to get a copy of that, by the way, too.”
• S: “Absolutely.”
• L: “Sir, you’ll give me the respect that I give you, as well as what I expect.”

According to the mayor’s office, the Trump campaign still owes the City of Albuquerque just about $445,000 from his 2019 visit. That includes:

• $71,000 for police services
• $7,000 for barricades
• More than $132,000 for employee leave (City Hall shut down for half-a-day)
• Interest from the past five years that is still accruing

Of course, Albuquerque is not the only city waiting for the Trump campaign to pay some outstanding bills.

“According to the convention center, there is outstanding obligations with 16 municipalities throughout the country. And that is what they looked at, is one of the reasons for not signing a contract with the organization,” said Patrick Montoya, the chief operations officer for the City of Albuquerque.

We asked the mayor’s office about other recent political visits, including second gentleman Doug Emhoff earlier this year and President Joe Biden last fall. A spokesperson said the city doesn’t bill dignitaries for official visits and that Trump’s 2019 visit was a campaign rally.

We also reached out to a spokesperson for Tingley Coliseum about if the Trump campaign reached out to them about holding an event there. The spokesperson confirmed the campaign reached out to them but that the coliseum is undergoing extensive renovations, including a major seat replacement project, and couldn’t accommodate them.