Nevada R-V board raises employee mileage reimbursement to current IRS rate

At its Aug. 18 meeting, the Nevada R-V School District Board of Education approved an update to district policy to raise the employee mileage reimbursement from 36¢ per mile to the current IRS rate of 70¢ per mile.

Board members said the change will align district reimbursement with a commonly used federal benchmark and asked administration to monitor claims going forward. A motion to approve the policy update was moved and seconded during the meeting and put to a vote; the motion carried.

The board’s conversation ranged from the number of staff mileage claims to whether the district should, in some cases, provide a vehicle instead of reimbursing miles. One board member noted that annual review is appropriate so the district can assess whether a tipping point has been reached at which owning or assigning a vehicle would be more economical than mileage reimbursement. Another said tying the rate to the IRS ensures periodic automatic adjustments without the board having to act every time the rate changes.

Board members also discussed the district’s past mileage claims record. Administration reported the district receives only a handful of mileage reimbursements annually and provided a year-by-year summary in the packet; one employee submits a larger claim annually because the employee performs a high number of home visits. Board members asked administration to bring the item back for review next summer to check whether claims increase after the rate change.

Motion text presented at the meeting was recorded as a request to update policy 4 4 401.7 (employee total compensation) to increase the mileage reimbursement to the current IRS mileage rate and leave the change on second reading. The motion was moved and seconded and subsequently approved.

The board did not specify line-item budget changes at the meeting; administration indicated mileage reimbursements are currently limited in number and will continue to be monitored.