DURHAM — An anonymous resident offering to pay for Durham’s public safety costs related to a recent visit by President Barack Obama has retained the services of an attorney to ensure their identity remains private.

Durham Administrator Todd Selig said the town has been contacted by Attorney Abigail Sykas of Dover on behalf of the anonymous donor related to costs associated with the President’s June 25 visit.

“Attorney Sykas has been engaged by her client to ensure that a gift to the Town of Durham would be made in keeping with applicable campaign finance laws,” Selig said in an email on Friday.

The donor came forward a day before the President’s arrival last month after the town had asked his campaign to reimburse the public safety-related costs associated with the campaign stop and the campaign declined. Following the announcement of the donation, Selig received several Right-to-Know law requests seeking more information about the anonymous donor.

Selig said the resident asked to remain anonymous because the individual “values privacy for her/himself and for her/his family.”

He said no other documents exist related to the donation to share with the public.

“Openness in the conduct of public business is essential to a democratic society and we practice this daily in Durham, New Hampshire,” Selig said. “Because the offer from the anonymous Durham resident was made verbally, there exist no documents which pertain to it at this time.”

He said when the town is in receipt of the funds, it will entertain further requests for information, and provide it in accordance with the state’s Right-to-Know law.

As of Friday, the town was not in receipt of any funds from the donor, he said.

The total cost for fire and safety services for the day was $19,851, Selig said. However, town public safety officials were able to reduce local costs through careful distribution of available personnel, and some agencies opted not to bill the Town of Durham for services provided as part of the presidential campaign stop.

The Dover, Farmington and University of New Hampshire police departments assisted on the day of the event, as did the Strafford County Sheriff’s Office and UNH Fire Department. Rochester and Barrington also assisted but will not be billing the town for services provided.

The remaining cost to the town of Durham for fire and safety personnel was $12,998.29, which will be covered by the anonymous donor.

The town received separate checks from residents Martha and David Burton of Durham for $150 and from David and Linda Feldman of Durham for $100, both intended to defray the cost of the presidential visit to the community, Selig said.

Selig reiterated in his email that the town’s request to the campaign for reimbursement of the town’s costs was not motivated by partisan politics.

“To be clear, our request came from the basic responsibility that a local government has to its residents to ensure that expenses outside our approved budget are recovered in a fair and equitable manner. As in small towns across the country, we have struggled to save money while providing essential quality services to our public. We owed it to our residents to ask the Obama for America campaign to help cover our costs. Unfortunately, they declined,” Selig said.

The campaign has also declined to reimburse costs elsewhere, as has been standard practice for a President for decades.

The Nevada Journal reported in April that the Obama campaign had finally reimbursed a cash-strapped school district for 2008 campaign costs related to then-Sen. Obama’s use of district facilities.

gmacalaster@newstote.com