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County treasurer asks commissioners to clarify travel meal-reimbursement rules
Summary
DeKalb County Treasurer Sandy Wilcox told commissioners a meal reimbursement claim tied to pre-conference travel was denied under the current travel ordinance and asked the board to clarify whether overnight lodging paid by the county should allow a meal per diem for the night before travel.
Sandy Wilcox, DeKalb County treasurer, told commissioners she had a recent claim denied under the county travel ordinance and asked for clearer, consistent guidance about meal reimbursements for county business that occurs the day before a conference.
Wilcox said her office often travels the day before conferences to visit peer counties for knowledge-sharing. "We actually came back, changed how we did judgments. We also, are changing innkeepers tax, for how that's handled in the county as a whole," she said, describing why those pre-conference visits can produce practical benefits for county operations.
Wilcox said the county ordinance sets a $40-a-day meal reimbursement for seminars but that the language appears to limit reimbursements to seminar days only; a recent claim for meals tied to a travel day before a conference was denied for that reason. "If you pay for the overnight lodging, you should pay for the meals," Wilcox said.
Commissioners said they must follow the current handbook but were open to clarifying it. One commissioner suggested allowing a single $20 meal for an overnight the night before a conference as a compromise while the handbook is formally revised. Several commissioners said consistency is important and recommended the board adopt changes through the handbook so staff can apply them uniformly.
The board did not enact immediate policy changes during the meeting; commissioners asked staff to draft clearer handbook language for future consideration.
