HOLLISTER
San Benito County Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz told the Free Lance today that he has decided to cancel his trip to Nashville – citing the economy and the county’s recent cuts to personnel – days after the board unanimously approved the nearly $2,700 expense.
“It is hard to accept that the county is laying people off, and the economy,” De La Cruz said.
In Nashville, he was planning to attend the National Association of Counties Annual Conference and Exposition from July 24 through July 28.
After discussion on it at Tuesday’s meeting, the board approved travel, registration, food and housing costs at $2,653. De La Cruz said those costs could have been near $1,900 because he offered to not have the county pay for airfare at the Tuesday meeting.
One of the goals of the trip would have been to get the county more federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, he said. De La Cruz said he will try and phone into some of the meetings at the conference.
On Thursday, the Free Lance submitted a public records request for all cost for out-of-state travel expenses for all county employees for the last year.
