County travel policy calls for clear oversight on spending

Correction: This article has been updated to correct an incorrect number of trips and travel days for county Behavioral Health Administrator Anne Robin. She took 10 out-of-county trips over roughly 44 days in 2014. Days of travel do not reflect entire days away from the office.

San Luis Obispo County spent about $83,460 on out-of-county travel for its 24 department heads last year, according to a records review by The Tribune.

Unlike some cities in the region, the county’s written policy is straightforward in setting specific hotel, meal and mileage allowances and requiring that every travel expense submitted for reimbursement be reviewed by the county Auditor’s Office.

County officials, Auditor-Controller Jim Erb said, typically travel more than city officials because of mandatory training or to participate in statewide department director associations.

The county’s two top spenders for travel among department heads last year were San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport Manager Kevin Bumen, who spent $13,444, and Behavioral Health Administrator Anne Robin, who spent $8,465. General Services Agency Director Janette Pell spent the least at $609.

The county policy, which has been in place for about 15 years, requires employees to get prior approval for travel and to submit actual expenses afterward.

Meals are limited to $12 for breakfast, $15 for lunch and $27 for dinner. Employees are not required to submit receipts for meals if the reimbursement request falls within those allowances, although some departments turn in those receipts anyway, records show.

Hotel stays are limited to a single-room rate of $150, a double-room rate of $200, and a single-room rate of $190 in “high-cost areas” such as Monterey, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Jose.

Mileage reimbursement rates are updated annually based on an IRS index. If valid reasons exist to exceed those rates, a written request is required in advance from department staff to Erb for approval.

Erb said that before approving any travel, his office looks at appropriateness, and mathematical accuracy and will even check conference agendas to see whether meals are provided or call hotels to see whether breakfast is included in the hotel rate.

While most travel is paid through the county general fund, some officials’ travel is covered by enterprise funds or special revenue from parks.

That’s the case for Bumen, the airport manager. In 2014, he took 12 out-of-county trips over 41 days that cost $13,444.

However, his travel was paid for by the airport enterprise fund, which comes from airport revenues. About 90 percent of those revenues are rents and concessions as well as service fees for parking and landings.

Much of Bumen’s travel was to participate in regular California Airport Council meetings as well as out-of-state meetings such as a September route conference in Chicago.

Robin, the behavioral health administrator, spent $8,466 in travel over about 44 days. She is a member of associations such as the County Behavioral Health Directors Association and the California Mental Health Services Association, for which she attended four conferences.

Agricultural Commissioner Martin Settevendemie attended the most conferences and meetings, a total of 14 within and outside the county over 28 days at a cost of $4,047.

Erb, who ranked as the 10th-highest travel spender, spent $3,873 for six trips over 16 days. He said a division manager approves his trips and his expense reports go through the office’s review process.

Erb said that while business travel should be scrutinized, travel is not only an important way to keep up with best practices, it also has resulted in significant long-term savings to the county.

As an example, at an auditors conference last year, Erb heard officials from other counties discussing pre-funding their pensions.

Using what he learned, Erb said he returned and worked with his staff to calculate what the county’s savings would be if it paid the entire pension amount in one month rather than every two weeks throughout the year.

That resulted in an annual savings of close to $1.3 million after the county pre-funded pensions this fiscal year, Erb said.

In many cases, department heads are contractually obligated to participate in a certain number of hours of training and education per each year.

For example, the county’s chief probation officer, Jim Salio, is required to attend at least 40 hours of professional training annually. His six trips in 2014 — five meetings of the Chief Probation Officers of California and one conference of the California Alliance of Child and Family Services — fulfills that requirement at a cost to the county of $4,463, he said.

For county agencies without a state counterpart, department heads attend conferences to learn what is happening in their respective fields.

“The interesting thing about probation is there is no state probation agency,” Salio said. “These (meetings) are where I go to hear about what’s going on in the field across the state.”

This story was originally published February 21, 2015 at 7:58 PM with the headline "County travel policy calls for clear oversight on spending."