The new limits apply only to this year's budget and won't affect trips already planned for.
By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
Published May 30, 2004
SEMINOLE - Despite the objections of the mayor and one council member, the city's top elected officials agreed Tuesday to restrict their travel spending for the rest of the year.
The new limits - $4,000 for each of the six council members and $8,000 for the mayor - apply only for the current budget and do not affect already-scheduled trips to such events as the Florida League of Cities Conference or the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
However, costs related to unscheduled trips that exceed individual travel budgets would require special approval by the city council.
Each council member will be able to spend up to his or her limit, but once that $4,000 cap is reached the member will have to request a special budget amendment to be reimbursed for travel expenses.
Most council members expect no impact on their travel plans. There is more than $20,000 still available in the budget to cover travel-related expenses. Only council member Janet Long is pushing up against the new $4,000 limit.
The travel budget covers transportation and lodging, as well as per diem expenses for meals when council members attend out-of-town conferences and meetings that are related to city business.
"To amend the budget now is inappropriate because we all made travel decisions based on our previous budget," said Long, who only has $300 left to spend on travel. She is scheduled to attend an upcoming Florida League of Cities conference, as well as several national conferences.
The controversy over the city council's travel spending began last year when individual requests for travel funds totaled some $54,000, significantly higher than the previous year's $36,098 budget.
The city instituted a new policy that banned reimbursements for overnight stays at destinations within a three-hour drive of Seminole, or for reimbursements for incidentals such as snacks. But costs of planned trips led to a move last month to increase the $40,000 travel budget by another $5,000. Instead, the council capped the budget at $32,000.
Mayor Dottie Reeder strongly argued against the new spending restrictions. "We need to educate ourselves on issues in Tallahassee and before Congress. If I can't go to Tallahassee, how can I learn how to protect the city? How can we make good decisions?" she said.
Reeder said spending limits could embarrass members, who would be forced to ask for additional travel money, and urged the council to "do the right thing, not something that sounds good."
In a separate vote, the council unanimously agreed to allow individual council members to exceed those limits for trips already planned without needing to ask for special permission and as long as the council's total $32,000 travel budget is not exceeded.
"Those who have already made travel commitments should be allowed to go ahead," said council member John Counts, who has spent only about $300 so far this year on travel. He and Council member Pat Hartstein, who similarly has spent about $300, offered part of their $4,000 allocation to Long.
The new spending restrictions will not become official until the council votes a second time at the June 8 meeting.
