San Benito County spent $449,411 on in-state travel for county
employees over the past 12 months, according to an itemized list of
costs requested by the Free Lance.
HOLLISTER
San Benito County spent $449,411 on in-state travel for county employees over the past 12 months, according to an itemized list of costs requested by the Free Lance.
The list included all travel-related expenses county employees incurred from May 26, 2008 to May 26, 2009. Many of the larger expenses were for conferences and training, but they also included mileage costs and food costs.
County travel arose as a debated issue during the May 5 board of supervisors meeting, when officials discussed approving a trip to a Nashville conference for Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz for $2,650. The Free Lance followed up on that by requesting all out-of-state travel for county employees and in-state travel as well.
County leaders say they will continually examine such travel expenses as they move forward. County Administrative Officer Susan Thompson told the Free Lance that officials “are not loose with our travel funds.”
“We are dealing with an operational budget of around $100 million,” Thompson said.
Supervisor Margie Barrios responded by noting officials plan to be “very, very frugal on the travel.”
“We are going to be more conscientious on where we are going than we ever have because of the budget situation.”
Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz agreed and said “we need to scrutinize all expenditures.”
One way that might be done is by using technology to attend meetings or conferences over the phone. De La Cruz said in the future, county employees may have the ability to teleconference into meetings and conferences so that travel costs would not be incurred.
“We need to consider those opportunities where we can save taxpayers’ money,” he said. “In the next two years, hopefully we’ll ask these two questions: Do we really need to be there and can we be there through a cheaper means?”
He added that sometimes, however, employees have to be at conferences or meetings.
The county already has taken steps to lessen the effect of travel on taxpayers by cutting about $25,000 from the budget, Thompson noted. She also pointed out that the county must “maintain the appropriate level of training” for employees, so a balance must exist, she said.
“We are not going to be isolating ourselves from our regional partners,” Thompson said. “We are going to be involved in those discussions. We missed out in the past from being so isolated.”
For the full story, see Tuesday’s edition of the Free Lance.
