View County Travel Expenses Online
Commissioner Leon is committed to making county government open to the public. One of the first concerns he addressed was county travel. When he took office, this information was not easily available.
In order to make it possible, he met with several department heads upon whom the responsibility would fall to make this information available. He wanted the public to know:
WHO WENT; WHERE DID THEY GO; FOR WHAT REASON; HOW MUCH DID THE TRIP COST; WHO PAID FOR THE TRIP?
After meeting with the County Auditor, Human Resources, Information Technology and the County Attorney, Leon put an item on the agenda for consideration. The item passed with unanimous support from the other commissioners. Starting in August of 2013, all travel would be made public online on the Travel Disclosure Report (TDR).
There are actually two parts to the TDR online. One report is for travel that is funded by the county. Once a county employee is approved for travel the information is immediately posted on the TDR page.
The other part of the TDR is for travel that is not funded by the county but is paid by a 3rd party. Many times county officials or employees are invited to share their expertise or to take part in educational presentations. The officials or employees are traveling in their capacity as a county representative so the public has a right to know what the travel was and by whom the trip was funded.
Pictured above is the county website homepage with the text box pointing to the link that quickly takes the viewer to the TDR page. To view the TDR, click here. Under reports, click on one of the links to see the report.
The TDR not only provides the public with valuable information, it also provides commissioners and department heads the status of travel. It is a quick and easy tool to manage county travel expenses.