City leaders to amend travel expense policy - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

City leaders to amend travel expense policy

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VALDOSTA, GA (WALB) -

Some Valdosta city leaders want you to know more about how they spend tax money while traveling on city business.

The city council is scheduled to vote Thursday on proposed changes to the city's travel expense policy.

The amendment would force the mayor and council members to post their travel expense statements to the city's web site.

They would also have to itemize their receipts and stick to a yearly cap.

Each council member could spend no more than $6,000 per fiscal year on travel.

The mayor would have a $12,000 travel budget.

"It makes us more accountable," said Valdosta City Councilman At Large Ben Norton. "It makes us more transparent. People can see where we're going, what we're spending. People everywhere are concerned about spending. We're on a limited a budget now more than ever."

Norton says the city often reaps benefits from out of town trips by city leaders that are worth much more than what the city pays for those trips.


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