Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Travel Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Travel budget raised to $8,900 after debate over reimbursements and fuel contingency
Summary
Bonner County commissioners agreed to shift line items to raise the commissioners' travel and mileage budget to about $8,900, while debating whether to add a blanket fuel contingency and how to track reimbursable travel.
Bonner County commissioners discussed and agreed to shift funds to raise the commissioners' travel and mileage line to about $8,900 for the coming year, aiming to cover three primary conferences and some additional mileage.
"I moved $500 over from a different line item to bring our travel budget up from 7,500 to 8,000," said Veronica, the clerk presenting the budget. She told the board she used Commissioner Ron’s historic expenses as a baseline and added a 3% adjustment when estimating per-event costs.
Commissioner S5 pressed for clearer rules on when travel costs should be charged to the county, especially for meetings that are not statutorily required. "I think there needs to be better consideration… if I want to attend a meeting, is it a meeting that I'm charging the County for if it's not germane to what I'm doing as a commissioner?" S5 said, adding they would not support a blanket 20% increase to the miscellaneous fuel line.
Chair S1 noted some boards add a percentage buffer for fuel, but commissioners disagreed on a blanket contingency versus a modest buffer created by shifting existing line items. Veronica reported small entries in the miscellaneous fuel line, including a recorded charge of $231, and said use of county vehicles has reduced personal fuel reimbursements.
The board’s direction was to raise the travel/mileage total to provide modest flexibility for the incoming board and leave detailed management of discretionary travel to commissioners under existing reimbursement checks handled by the auditor’s office.
