When are the Salt Lake County Council’s fiscal conservatives not really all that conservative? When budget tightening impacts them and their access to taxpayer-funded trips.
That came through loud and clear this week when Republican council members Dave Alvord, Dea Theodore, Laurie Stringham and Sheldon Stewart — all of whom ran as tight-fisted budget hawks — fought for a 40% increase to their discretionary office budgets, used largely for travel.
A proposal before the county Tuesday would have paid to send all nine council members to the annual Utah Association of Counties conferences and allocated a discretionary budget of $5,000 to each council member’s office.
The members can use that allowance however they want — traveling to a National Association of Counties [NACO] conference, replacing computers or furniture, or even donating part of it to the Utah Food Bank or other charities (with council approval).
That wasn’t enough for the four self-described fiscal conservatives. Alvord complained that with only $5,000 he might use up most of his allocation on one NACO conference and might not get to take a second taxpayer-funded trip a year.
So he proposed fattening up their discretionary budgets by an extra $2,000 each — $18,000 total for the nine members — an increase of 40%.
“I just have concerns about raising budgets when I think a lot of people are struggling in our county,” argued Democratic council member Suzanne Harrison. “I just think we need to be very sensitive about adding to travel expenses or other expenses that may not be really necessary to us serving the people we represent.”
Republican councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton also felt like one NACO trip a year “is plenty,” and said that sometimes the council has to make tough decisions on how to best use its resources.
“So do our taxpayers, and everyone else has to make choices on needs versus wants,” she said in Tuesday’s council meeting. “I think we should be setting the example as council members for doing that in the most fiscally responsible way.”
Alvord’s money-grab failed with the council’s four Democrats and Winder Newton voting to keep the office allowances at $5,000.
But Alvord wasn’t done. He also argued against a policy that would prevent council members from booking first class flights or premium lodging when taxpayers are paying for their trips. “I’m curious if this puts handcuffs on us,” he said.
Council member Jim Bradley seemed a little perturbed that they were even debating the topic.
“We’re talking about using taxpayer money and we’re trying to decide how far we can go in terms of what are the boundaries and pushing them as far as we can. … I’m finding these conversations a bit tedious,” he said. “We’re talking about how we can spend it on ourselves, not how can we donate it to a charity that desperately needs it. We’re talking about: How much can I spend on myself. That, in itself, disgusts me.”
The travel policy was eventually amended slightly and adopted by the council.
All of this came after Alvord, Theodore and Stewart got money restored to their travel budgets that had been withheld because each had racked up travel expenses that were deemed excessive for taxpayer-funded travel.
Theodore, for example, had booked a room with two queen beds so she could take her family to a conference she attended. Stewart and Alvord had overspent by $974 and $874 respectively for the same conference.
And look, all of this travel spending is decimal dust in the county’s $1.9 billion budget.
It’s telling, though, that these members oppose programs that help their constituents — like affordable housing or county library funding — but aren’t shy about trying to reach in your pocket so they can blow our money on nicer flights and posh hotels.
Maybe it’s time to remind them who they work for.
