WILMINGTON — Wilmington’s tax payers are now giving City Council and other city officials an additional $20,000 for “special travel expenses,” after the City Council approved a resolution allowing the council to do so.
This $20,000 is an addition to money already set aside for the City Council’s travel expenses, which allow local leaders to attend conferences and participate in programs, such as the Sister Cities International.
Wilmington has four sister cities, including Bridgetown, Barbados; Dandong, China; Doncaster, United Kingdom; and San Pedro, Belize.
In May of last year, City Council approved the adoption of an amendment that reimbursed Mayor Pro-Tem Margaret Hayes up to $3,500 for a trip to Belize to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the two-city relationship.
According to City Manager Sterling Cheatham, “The purpose of the Sister City relationship is to develop and cultivate relationships that foster goodwill and seek mutual opportunities in a variety of areas, including health care, economic development, education and arts.”
Although it was a celebration of a 10-year anniversary, according to city documents, “this visit was not anticipated in preparing the City’s budget … “
According to Communications Manager Malissa Talbert, the in the years since the new travel policy was put into effect in 2009, city officials have not used the entire amount of money set aside for travel.
“A few times since then, a member has gone over his/her individual allotment, but the extra was absorbed by other unused funds within the existing Council travel budget,” she said. “This additional allotment will provide for funding in the case of unexpected travel without being absorbed by the total Council travel budget and any funds to be used will require approval by Council.”
In 2014, Councilwoman Laura Padgett was reimbursed by the City Council for $453.10 worth of travel expenses after depleting her city-supplied budget for travel.
In 2014, the council voted unanimously to update the city’s travel policy. In doing so, it changed oversight of the city’s travel policy, taking the responsibility away from the Audit Committee and giving it to City Council.
Current annual travel allowances
- Mayor: $4,500
- Council member not serving on a national/state board: $3,750
- Council member serving on a national board would be allotted an additional $1,000
- Council member serving on a state board would be allotted an additional $500
“Using the last fiscal year 2016-17 as an example, $27,500 was allotted, but only $14,637.83 was spent … There aren’t many receipts. As per policy, all employees and Council members just get the IRS per diem when traveling instead of being reimbursed,” Talbert said.
The per diem rates vary depending on the location of travel, but the money is built the money already allotted for each board member in the city’s budget.
One of the changes in 2014 removed the following clause, “All individual travel expenses expended during a fiscal year should not exceed the council member’s individual budget.”
Instead, a new clause was added to the policy which allowed council members to travel utilizing personal funds, and at the end of the fiscal year, if there were any funds left in the City Council Travel Budget, the funds could be requested to cover the personal expenses.
The $20,000 special requests travel policy fund was approved at Tuesday night’s City council meeting unanimously.
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