BALTIMORE (WBFF) — As Baltimore heads into a busy travel season, the city’s Board of Estimates is set to vote Wednesday on dozens of travel expense reports, most of them from the mayor’s office.
Taxpayer advocate David Williams criticized the volume of trips and the costs being charged to the public.
“The mayor’s office at this point, looks more like a travel agency,” Williams said.
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Among the travel requests up for approval is a two-day trip for Baltimore’s arts director to attend the Atlanta Jazz Festival, with expenses totaling $1,602. The city said the trip is an opportunity to “observe a large scale event… operating in a park like setting.”
Another request involves a city worker hired three months ago who is scheduled to travel to Dallas on a trip costing $1,177 to tour the Downtown Partnership in Dallas and “help understand how they interface with their data.”
In two weeks, the city plans to staff the annual shopping center convention in Las Vegas. Two city staffers have already filed expenses totaling more than $7,400. The city said the goal is to develop retail and commercial opportunities.
Next week, the mayor’s office is scheduled to send eight city workers to a community action conference in Oxon Hill, Md. Their overnight stays in Prince George’s County are expected to cost taxpayers more than $10,000. The city said the workers will learn from their peers and build a meaningful professional community.
Williams argued many of the trips are unnecessary.
“A lot of this could be done virtually or not at all because taxpayers aren’t seeing the benefits from the trips,” he said.
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The travel expenses are expected to be approved. Aside from the comptroller and the City Council president, the mayor and his two appointees on the Board of Estimates control a majority of the votes.
“The people traveling are from the office of the mayor and of course the Board of Estimates controlled by the mayor is going to approve the spending no matter how ridiculous it is,” he said.
It’s been more than four years since Comptroller Bill Henry has approved any travel expenses.
“Part of this is a philosophical issue of how Baltimore City is structured,” Henry said.
Henry is calling for an overhaul of the city’s travel policies.
Williams said the city is overspending and under-producing, arguing that better prices could be found.
“Any 15-year-old could go on a travel website and find better deals than what Baltimore officials are paying for,” Williams said. “The Board of Estimates needs to do a better job to be a watchdog for taxpayers and they are not doing their job.”
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