Mayor, aides and ex-staffers bill taxpayers thousands for Vegas shopping center meet

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — City officials are preparing to travel about 2,400 miles to Las Vegas this weekend for an international shopping center convention, but questions remain about how much the taxpayer-funded trip will ultimately cost.

It is difficult to determine the full size of the city delegation because many officials are late filing their travel reports with the city. Even so, the impact of the tax-paid travel is being debated.

City leaders have described the trip as business-related networking with developers in hopes of reaching future development deals. However, taxpayer advocate David Williams, calls it something else. “It’s a junket. Lets call it what it is its a junket,” said Williams.

So far, the mayor, the city administrator and three others have filed travel reports with the city’s Board of Estimates.

Among the expenses already disclosed: the mayor’s chief of staff is charging taxpayers $3,370 for a two-day trip. The mayor’s former chief of staff is charging more than $4,000 for a three-day stay. Another former chief of staff jetted to the Monday convention on Friday, telling the Board of Estimates he needed to attend “pre-conference meetings.”

Last week, the mayor defended the city’s participation in the convention. “Every mayor every city is there and if we don’t want these other cities to eat our lunch we have to be there,” he said at a May 6 news conference.

“Nobody has to be there. If the mayor is concerned about bringing business to the city, he may want to consider lowering property taxes and making the city more attractive for business,” insisted Williams.

City leaders are spending more than $400 a night at what was described as one of the most luxurious hotels on the Las Vegas Strip.

Last year, city leaders charged more than $30,000 for their Las Vegas trip. This year’s expenses were still being reported as travel filings continued to come in.

Williams predicts the trip will have little impact on development in Baltimore. “Going out shaking hands and networking is not going to bring people back to Baltimore City. It’s having a city that is clean, safe and fiscally responsible,” said Williams.