Memorandum
City of Lawrence
Finance Department
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TO: |
Diane Stoddard, Interim City Manager |
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FROM: |
Bryan Kidney, Finance Director |
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CC: |
Lawrence Executive Staff |
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DATE: |
February 9, 2016 |
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RE: |
Updates to the City’s Administration Guidelines on City Travel and Expenses |
Background
The current administrative guidelines on City Travel and Expenses were last updated in January 2012. Finance has reviewed the guidelines and prepared an updated version. As with any guidelines, that have been updated incrementally over the years, Finance found many instances where the guidelines were sometimes difficult to follow and tedious to administer. Therefore, this update restructures the guidelines in an attempt to make it easier to administer and understand.
The City sets administrative guidelines to establish the guidelines for City business travel. The City reimburses employees, elected officials, appointed commission and board members for business travel and expenses. The Mayor and City Commission authorize and approve expenditures for the City Manager and elected and appointed officials. The City Manager and department directors are empowered to authorize the reimbursements of travel for city employees.
The Finance Department reviewed other communities’ policies to review the current industry standards. As mentioned above, the past guidelines were difficult to administer and could be confusing to follow. However, the actual fundamentals of the guidelines are sound. Those fundamentals are to allow for employees to be trained efficiently and at a reasonable cost. There are some changes to how Finance proposes to improve efficiency in the administration of the updated guidelines while keeping costs reasonable and within industry standards.
The updated guideline keeps the overall responsibility for non-department head employees at the department level. Finance staff will be relying on the department head approvals and their review to ensure travel costs are reasonable and within budget.
Material Changes to Administrative Guidelines
There is one major change to the guidelines. Instead of reimbursing employees from actual receipts, the new guidelines will reimburse on a daily per diem allowance based on IRS guidelines. The guidelines cite a webpage updated by the General Services Administration that will allow the City to maintain the guidelines within IRS guidelines without needing to change amounts as per diem rates adjust.
Other Changes to Administrative Guidelines
In an effort to update the guidelines as the travel industry changes, some other minor changes are included. These include:
· Accommodations. Allowing departments to authorize different methods of accommodation if savings can be documented and are reasonably explained. For example, the updated guidelines allow the authorizing person to consider a short-term rental or other hotel rather than the conference hotel.
· Vehicle Transportation. Allowing for ride-share option instead of taxi and/or rental car if it is the best financial solution for the City. Giving guidelines if a department vehicle is available.
· Airfare Transportation. Sets guidelines for non-business travel, type of seats, baggage rules, and limits reimbursement for extra airline charges unless a reasonable exception is documented and authorized.
As with the previous policy, the policy specifically lists the following as unauthorized expenses:
Additionally, the policy includes the requirement that the Finance Department post a monthly overnight travel summary on the Finance Department website. At a minimum, the summary will list the employee’s name, travel destination, purpose and expenditure summary by type.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends the governing body approve the updates to the City’s Administration Guidelines on City Travel and Expenses.
Action
Approve the updates to the City’s Administration Guidelines on City Travel and Expenses.