Change is en route for Wilmington City Council’s travel policy.
It could avail greater amounts of money to council members who sit on state or national boards and take to the road more frequently.
City Manager Sterling Cheatham is drafting a recommendation for council’s consideration following a lengthy and at times clashing discussion Monday morning of how the city’s seven elected officials are compensated for expenses on official travel.
“None of us have traveled excessively,” said Councilwoman Laura Padgett. But she’s argued the city’s current system of capped allowances is inadequate and often doesn’t cover the bill, at least in her case as a member of the National League of Cities and other bodies prompting her to travel more often.
Currently, the city gives each council member $2,750 and the mayor $3,500 to spend on official trips each year.
When a council member’s allowance runs out, he or she must use personal funds.
Padgett at a council meeting last month raised the idea of having access to other council members’ unspent allowance money at the end of each fiscal year. That way, she or other individual council members could perhaps recoup on those personal expenses.
But the concept didn’t find backing at a council workshop Monday.
Councilwoman Margaret Haynes instead suggested each council member stick with finite allocations, which she said would require they prioritize the out-of-town events they’d like to attend.
“You can’t go to everything every year,” she said.
Haynes later found support for an idea granting higher allowances to members, like Padgett and Mayor Bill Saffo, who serve on state or national boards.
Saffo suggested that, in addition to Haynes’ idea, council members on track to deplete their allocations could ask council for additional, one-time funding for worthy conferences or board meetings.
“From my perspective, I would never deny that,” Saffo said.
Haynes opined that council members are “maligned” by the media whenever they attend out-of-town events on the public dime, despite the benefits the city gets in return.
Padgett said her presence at state or national conferences gives her–and by extension the city’s residents–valuable face time with other municipal leaders who often have wisdom to share on dealing with common, complicated problems.
It’s also vital for advocacy, council members said.
In March, Saffo and Padgett trekked to the National League of Cities’ Congressional City Conference in Washington, D.C., to discuss with congressional staffers local-federal issues pertinent to Wilmington, like transportation funding and affordable housing.
Related story: City taking agenda to Congress
Saffo’s tab for the trip came to $1,418.80; Padgett’s was $567.92. According to the city’s communications office, the money went toward travel, registration costs and lodging. (Padgett stayed a shorter time, and also paid for some of the expense herself, as she had zeroed out her allowance.)
Council could take action on a new policy at a near-future meeting.
The officials’ travel allowances are in addition to the base salaries they receive for general service. That’s $14,250 a year for the mayor and $10,830 for each council member. They also receive a $350 monthly car stipend and $100 a month for cell phone use.
Editor’s note: The above salaries were updated after initial publication of this story in order to reflect the raises council members received with the recently adopted budget.
Past story: Area beach towns provide spending records from D.C. trip
Ben Brown is a news reporter at Port City Daily. Reach him at [email protected] or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter:@benbrownmedia
