Citing news reports of travel costs by New Hanover County Commissioners, a member of the board tried and failed on Tuesday to place individual limits on the spending.
Commissioner Woody White tried to gain a consensus on a few different proposals to limit spending on travel by the commissioners, but the ideas were never considered by the board after three members said they would not support the changes.
The board does have an annual travel spending budget of $25,000 total for all five of the commissioners. White proposed changing it to $2,000 for each member of the commission, for a total of $10,000. Additionally, he said that travel expenses shouldn’t be used for functions like galas and charitable events.
White proposed more broadly that county staff should have more restrictions, citing the $700,000 spent annually on travel for the 1,500 employees. He said while licensing and recertification conferences were important, staff should be prevented from traveling when online alternatives like webinars are available. He also questioned the need to send multiple employees to the same conference or event.
White suggested the commissioner requests should be subjected to staff review before being allowed to travel, similar to travel criteria that are in place for county employees.
“It’s a lot of money and it’s worth having staff look into that,” White said. “We agree that some travel is necessary, but we should have a budget. We could attend conferences 52 weeks a year, we don’t have the time or money for that.”
White’s proposal was supported in principle by Commissioner Skip Watkins, who agreed with limits for each commissioner, but not necessarily at the limits that White suggested.
However, Commissioners Rob Zapple and Beth Dawson, and Chairman Jonathan Barfield Jr. strenuously opposed White’s proposal. They argued that attending conferences around the state and nationwide helped the commissioners better manage the government, and also build contacts and personal relationships that can benefit the county in the long run, especially in regard to lobbying the state government.
Zapple cited several issues in the state government where commissioners needed to be engaged, including beach renourishment and sales tax redistribution.
“We must travel and promote our agenda of economic development,” said Zapple, who added that he didn’t believe there is an issue with travel expenses and even would support raising the travel budget for commissioners. “It’s difficult to build a relationship built on trust through email or over the phone,” he said.
Dawson said that commissioners are subject to county employee travel rules, like daily per diem spending budgets, and noted some commissioners were more engaged in outside issues, which is why the spending levels vary from each commissioner. She encouraged White to attend more state and regional conferences.
Barfield argued that the conferences he has attended have helped educate him on issues and communication strategies, which in the long-run have saved the county money by enacting better policies and programs. He said by attending policy conferences, the board was able to help craft and promote the one-fourth cent raise in sales tax passed by the voters in 2009.
Barfield also stressed the value of the relationships that traveling builds and what is lost through online education programs and email.
“When you go into a room and have every senator and representative in your state there, it gives you the opportunity to build relationships. The governor knows who I am,” Barfield said. “It takes being an engaged commissioner. If you’re not in the room, you’re not going to hear the conversation.”
After seeing that he would not get the support from the other commissioners on limiting the travel budget to $10,000 yearly, White pushed a prohibition on travel expenses for charity, fundraising events and galas, but the other three said even those were necessary and no action was taken.
email [email protected]
