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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 13 TRAVEL POLICY 11-02-92CONSENT CALENDAR NO. 13 11-2-92 D A Inter -Com DATE: OCTOBER 28, 1992 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER SUBJECT: TRAVEL POLICY RECOMMENDATION: That the City Council adopt the attached policy regarding travel and expense reimbursements for City employees and officials. DISCUSSION: The policy incorporates past practice and policies concerning expenses incurred by employees and officials while traveling on City business. The proposed policy updates some existing policies and adds new provisions to ensure that it is comprehensive. WAH bdpq---� Attachment TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS AND EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENTS POLICY STATEMENT: For purposes of this policy, employee shall mean all employees, including elected or appointed officials, and others designated to represent the City at an approved function. This policy is -to assure that City employees and other officials (City Council, Board, and Commission members) follow appropriate procedures when arranging for travel, lodging, and other expenses and that they are paid for reasonable expenses incurred for travel, conferences, meetings, and meals as a result of conducting authorized City business. Also, the purpose of this policy is to assure that payments made by the City are for actual and necessary expenses incurred for City business. Employee travel may be authorized for conducting City business at one day or extended* activities such as professional meetings, conferences and training sessions. Payments for travel and meeting expenses may be in the form of either advances or reimbursement, including appropriate registration fees, food, lodging, transportation costs and reasonable incidental expenses. Specific forms** and procedures are established for extended travel and meeting reimbursement and for one -day meals and expense reimbursement. Implementation of this policy is the responsibility of the Department Head or his/her designee. An individual may not authorize or approve reimbursement for his/her own travel; claim forms must be approved by the individual's supervisor. Normal accounting and purchasing controls remain the responsibility of the Director of Finance. Temporary or contract employees must receive express authorization in advance from the City Manager or his designee for all travel and conferences. Any exceptions to this policy must be approved by the City Manager or his designee. * For purposes of this policy, "extended" refers to travel of more than one day (where an overnight stay is required). ** Samples of the required forms are attached to this policy. Forms are available in the Finance Department. POLICY AND PROCEDURES - Travel Arrangements Page 2 of 6 TRANSPORTATION REIMBURSEMENT: 1. Employees shall be entitled to reimbursement for necessary transportation expenses incurred while on official City business. Claims submitted shall be approved by the Department Head. All claims for reimbursement may be reviewed by the City Manager or his designee. 2. Travel to conferences, seminars and meetings within a 100 -mile radius of the City of Tustin shall be considered as local travel and shall be approved by the Department Head or City Manager. Appropriate expense voucher and mileage reimbursement forms shall be processed, as necessary. For consistency, all travel claims should be submitted reflecting the starting and ending points at City Hall, regardless of where the actual travel began/ended (i.e. home, another meeting, etc). If a private automobile is used, reimbursement shall be at the current rate set by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 3. Transportation costs include, but are not limited to, airplane, train, bus and taxi fares, bridge tolls, parking and car rental. Selection of carrier, reservations, and ticketing shall be arranged as early as feasible to obtain the greatest discount, and to consider the use of alternate, but nearby, airports with ground transportation to take advantage of the lowest fares. Extension of the trip to cover any weekend stayover to obtain a lower airfare does not entitle the employee to be reimbursed for the extra day's hotel costs or per diem. A private vehicle can be used in lieu of air travel if the employee so desires and it is more advantageous to the City. Pre -approval by the Department Head or City Manager must be obtained. However, the total documented mileage and all other travel expenses incurred cannot exceed the airfare amount. The City will reimburse the employee the lesser of the two means of travel. Any frequent flyer mileage granted to an employee, while on City business, shall be given to the City for its subsequent use. NO frequent flyer mileage obtained while on City business shall be used for personal travel. If arrangements are made by the employee and other arrangements would have been less costly to the City, the employee will reimburse the City the difference. 4. Lodging - Reimbursement is allowable for lodging expenses associated with attendance at out -of -region conferences or meetings. Overnight lodging expenses associated with meeting.attendance within a 100 -mile radius of Tustin may be authorized if the overnight stay is justified based on early morning or late hour attendance requirements. Such overnight stay shall be preauthorized by the appropriate Department Head for staff and by the City Manager for Department Heads. The cost Policy and Procedures - Travel Arrangements Page 3 of 6 of accommodations shall be reimbursed or paid directly by the City. When making hotel reservations, the hotel recommended by the organization sponsoring the conference or meeting should be -used as a first priority. If rooms are not available, an alternate hotel in proximity to the location of the conference or meeting should then be selected. The cost of the alternate hotel should not exceed the cost expended at the hotel recommended by the conference. Lodging expense for non -conference meetings shall not exceed the amount referred to in the "Travel Allowances" schedule of rates used by the federal government. Employees may have the billing for accommodations sent directly to the City for payment. In such instances, it will be processed by the department and submitted to the Finance Department. The Finance Department shall pay the invoice and, in turn, the employee will reimburse the City for any additional charges for double occupancy, room service or other items. The City -issued credit cards should be used to the extent possible, but in all cases, a copy of the billing must be returned to the City. Reimbursements will not be made for room service, movies, phone calls, and other non -business related expenses. Any exceptions to the above must be approved in advance of attending the conference or meeting. 5. Advance Allowance - A $50.00 daily expense/advance rate has been established for all elected and appointed officials, the City Manager, Department Heads, and staff. This daily allowance of $50.00 is for a full day away from the office ($25.00 for a half day) if the employee must travel outside a 100 mile radius of City Hall. Any travel over 100 miles is subject to receiving an advance. If the travel is less than 50 miles, the employee will be reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses. The monies are to be used for meals, tips, parking fees, and other City - related expenses incurred. All employees and/or officials covered under this policy will be required to justify all expenses. Any unreconciled amounts will appear on the individual's W-2. 6. Within ten (10) working days following attendance at the conference, seminar, and/or meeting, the Travel Reimbursement Form shall be completed outlining the actual expenses incurred. The completed form shall be forwarded to the appropriate Department Head and/or City Manager for approval. The form will then be forwarded to the Finance Department for payment/ refund. Receipts and other documents must be submitted as back-up to the Expense Report. A Travel Reimbursement Form must be received by the Finance Department within ten (10) working days. 7. No personal expenses such as laundry, barbering, valet service, in - room movies, room service, or personal telephone calls shall be allowed. Alcoholic beverages are a non -allowable expense. Expenses incurred by family members or guests who accompany a City official or employee shall not be reimbursed. Policy and Procedures - Travel Arrangements Page 4 of 6 S. In the instance that an employee or off icial is traveling on behalf of another public agency, that agency is required to handle all expenses. The City is not responsible for any .expenses - including advances or reimbursements. The only exception would be where the employee or official serves on a committee of a public agency which does not provide travel expenses, such as the League of California Cities or professional associations. Membership on any such committee (which requires City expense for travel) must be approved by the City Manager. 9. Meals - For one day out-of-town official trips, lunch will be paid by the City. The coverage of breakfast and dinner expenses is at the discretion of the Department Head, depending upon the travel hours involved. Meals which are included in registration fees, as stated in meeting or conference literature, must be subtracted from the total daily maximum advance amount received. Meal Reimbursement Guidelines: Breakfast $ 6.00 Lunch $10.00 Dinner $25.00 Miscellaneous 9.00 Total Daily Maximum: $50.00 10. Baggage Charges, Tips and Gratuities - Reasonable amounts for tips and gratuities will be allowed. These expenses, as well as parking, will be included in the miscellaneous charges (reflected above). 11. Credit Cards - City credit cards are issued to City officials and Department Heads for their use. In the event several department representatives attend the same meeting or conference and a single department's credit card is used to pay for dinner or other expenses incurred for the City, that department will receive the invoice. However, the costs will be charged out to the various departments according to their expenditures for that specific event. All credit card receipts must be attached to statements in order to be paid. Credit card payments should be processed immediately to avoid additional costs for late payment. 12. Public Transit, Carpooling - Employees are encouraged to make optimum use of available public transit services and carpooling for local area travel. Policy and Procedures - Travel Arrangements Page 5 of 6 13. Rental Vehicles - Rental vehicles may only be obtained when on City business and public transit is not practical. A rental vehicle requires prior approval of the Department Head or City Manager. If two or more City representatives are attending the same meeting or conference and deem it necessary to rent a vehicle for transportation while on business in another city, the City of Tustin will reimburse expenses for only one rental vehicle. A vehicle may be rented only where it is less costly than other forms of transportation. If several City personnel attend the same meeting or conference, they should make every effort to share a rental vehicle. The City credit card should be used to rent the vehicle, whenever possible. EXPENDITURES IN EXCESS OF GUIDELINE RATES: Employees etc. exceeding the maximum rate for meals or lodging must indicate' on the back of their expense report justification for expenditures over the guideline limit. A conference or meeting with a fixed price meal in excess of the guidelines would be an example. Approval of the City Manager is required for any expenditure in excess of the guideline rates. TRAVEL ADVANCE PROCESS: 1. Travel advances may be requested. Requests for travel advances are to be submitted by Tuesday to be processed by Friday of each week. 2. Upon return from an event for which a travel advance has been issued, the employee shall submit to the Finance Department a travel claim for the full amount of actual expenses incurred, along with receipts. Such claims shall be reviewed and approved by the Department Head. All claims for reimbursement submitted by others shall be reviewed by the City Manager. 3. Prudent discretion should be used when incurring City -related expenses. Final determination on whether an expense is actual or necessary will be made by the Departnent Head or City Manager. In those cases where the approved claim is greater than the advance, the difference will be paid to the employee. In the event the travel advance was higher than actual expenses incurred, the employee shall submit the difference at the time the claim form is filed. If a Travel Reimbursement Form is not submitted to Finance within 30 days of the employee's return, all monies advanced to the employee shall be, automatically and without notice, considered taxable income and included in the individual's W-2 as such, per IRS regulations. Policy and Procedures - Travel Arrangements Page 6 of 6 POLICE OFFICERS STANDARDS AND TRAINING (POST) REIMBURSEMENT: Sworn police personnel who are reimbursed for any POST seminars, certifications, etc. shall reconcile their expenses incurred via the Expense Report Form pursuant to all provisions of this policy. It is the policy of the City Council that the City Director of Finance shall be charged with the' responsibility to develop and carry out an internal audit program of incoming Expense Reports which assures that expenses claimed by City officials and employees are reimbursed in accordance with City policies and procedures pertaining to such expenses. _, perdm3.dfe