Baltimore has spent more than $1.5 million this year on employee travel for conferences and training programmes, with approved trips taking workers to destinations such as Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Las Vegas and New Orleans.
The city’s Board of Estimates approved another $125,899.57 in travel expenses during its September 16 meeting.
Among the latest requests was approximately $20,000 to cover the costs of sending 14 Recreation and Parks employees to a conference in Philadelphia that was scheduled to begin the following Monday.
However, the city’s travel spending has attracted attention because many of the requests were submitted outside the timeframe required by Baltimore’s administrative manual.
Of the 56 travel requests considered at the September 16 meeting, 41 were filed fewer than 20 days before the employees were due to travel.
One request was submitted 73 days after the employee’s trip had already begun.
David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation, said Baltimore should take a closer look at how it approves employee travel, including the number of staff members sent to conferences and the overall cost of each trip.
“Baltimore City is struggling financially, and every dollar should be accounted for,” Williams said. “There really needs to be a prioritization of the events that city officials attend.”
The spending has also been viewed in the context of the benefits that professional development can provide to municipal workers.
John Ronquillo, an associate professor of public policy at the University of Maryland, said the more than $1.5 million allocated for employee development was relatively small for a city of Baltimore’s size.
He noted that some city employees require ongoing education to retain professional certifications, while conferences can give public-sector workers access to new ideas, practices and developments relevant to their professions.
The debate therefore centres not only on the amount Baltimore is spending on employee travel, but also on how the city determines which conferences employees attend, how many workers are sent and whether the expenses comply with its established approval procedures.
