COLUMBIANA COUNTY Courts install policy on travel expenses

Some questionable practices are allowed in the guidelines.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County's probate and juvenile courts have established a travel policy that Judge Thomas Baronzzi says is both fair and frugal.
County commissioners reviewed the policy Wednesday, and Commissioner Sean Logan praised it.
"It looks pretty thorough," he said.
Received directive
The policy comes weeks after county Auditor Nancy Milliken issued a directive for county departments to formulate written travel guidelines and submit them to her office and commissioners.
Milliken called for the action as The Vindicator was preparing a report on questionable travel practices among county departments.
A subsequent, May 2 story detailed how the public is charged for stays at luxury hotels and resorts, valet parking, trips to tourist destinations, meal expenses not documented with itemized receipts and for overnight stays for one-day events in Columbus.
The newspaper's description of travel spending by county health Commissioner Robert Morehead sparked a criminal probe and state audit, both of which are ongoing.
In 2003, the probate and juvenile court staff logged the most out-of-state training and conference trips of any county department.
The courts spent about $14,239 last year on travel to such places as San Antonio and Galveston, Texas, and Reno, Nev.
This spring, Judge Baronzzi and four employees jetted to Las Vegas for a conference, an excursion that cost taxpayers about $5,000, including a stay at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino.
Judge Baronzzi has defended the courts' travel as necessary to get mandatory training and to obtain vital education that helps the courts and the public.
Previously, the court had no written travel guidelines. The judge said Wednesday they were created because we "should have a clear travel policy."
Itemized receipts
The guidelines require itemized receipts for virtually all expenses incurred by traveling employees and requires that travel be preapproved.
Some questionable practices went unaddressed.
The policy states that lodging must be limited to "medium-priced rooms," which the judge said would be the same as economy lodging.
But the guidelines still permit stays at luxury hotels as long as the conference or training event being attended is held there, which is frequently the case.
The judge said that associations that hold conferences rely on attendees to stay in the adjoining hotel, where rooms are booked in bulk at bargain rates. With many conferences staged at swanky hotels and resorts, the room prices are still frequently costlier than at nearby bargain hotels.
If conference attendees chose nearby economy lodging instead, the cost of the conference would go up, Judge Baronzzi said.
For Columbiana County officials to let other attendees worry about filling up the high-priced hotel where a conference is being held would be like cheating, the judge insisted. The probate and juvenile courts travel policy doesn't ban claiming valet parking.
Judge Baronzzi said the expense is allowable, provided such parking is mandatory.
Many luxury hotels don't give guests the choice of parking their own vehicles. Attendants park them and charge about $20.
That isn't really valet parking, Judge Baronzzi argued, though he acknowledged it's listed as such on hotel receipts.
Also permitted is charging the public for evening meals when an employee is out of town overnight on county business.
Some county officials don't claim that expense, saying they would be eating at home anyway.
The judge defended the practice and noted that the evening meal is limited to $15. Claiming tips also is forbidden in the policy.
There's nothing in the guidelines prohibiting employees from billing taxpayers for overnight stays in Columbus for one-day trips, something county Auditor Nancy Milliken has said shouldn't be permitted.
Convenience
Milliken and other officeholders have argued that, though staying overnight in the capital might be convenient for a public employee who doesn't want to make the 320-mile round trip to Columbus in a day, taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for it.
Judge Baronzzi said the practice "is absolutely reasonable" because it deters someone from traveling while tired or trying to make it home in sketchy weather.