Distant business trips cost taxpayers $26K

Officials reimbursed county for personal expenses, extras

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005

by Douglas Tallman

Staff Writer

Two high-profile trips by Montgomery County officials this summer — one to Hawaii and the other to El Salvador — cost county taxpayers about $25,800, according to information released by the county government.

The Hawaii trip, to the annual conference of the National Association of Counties in July, cost more than $18,500. The conference draws appointed and elected leaders from across the country to discuss issues of governance. County agencies accepted 32 NACo awards.

The four-day El Salvador trip, in August, cost about $7,300. Originally planned as an effort to boost economic development, the trip’s focus shifted when days before the delegation left, six teenagers were knifed by suspected members of the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, a gang with roots in the Central American nation.

During the trip, County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) discussed gang issues with law enforcement officials there.

The county executive led both trips, but no security accompanied him, spokeswoman Donna D. Bigler said. Early this year, the county hired a four-person security detail to follow Duncan on his travels around the state.

For the Hawaii trip, his total reimbursement was $3,180.66, according to receipts released because of a Maryland Public Information Act request by The Gazette.

Duncan’s wife and one child joined him, and records show he reimbursed the county nearly $2,400 for their expenses, including car rental, parking and a portion of his hotel room. The receipts show he calculated how much the room tax and a general excise tax increased because of their attendance.

Five other county employees attended the NACo conference, and records show at least three of them — Chief Administrative Officer Bruce F. Romer, Health and Human Services Director Carolyn W. Colvin and Apollo Teng, who works with the county information technology division — brought traveling companions.

Romer’s reimbursement was $3,395.72. In his expense report, he charged the county only $1,972 for hotel expenses although the bill, including meals and parking, totaled $2,817.72. It does not show how he determined $1,972 was the proper figure to charge the county.

The report also shows Romer reimbursed the county $28.89, the cost difference in his flight by extending his stay four days. He also reimbursed the county $110 so his wife, Carolyn, could attend a NACo event.

Colvin’s receipts show she cost the county $3,153.30. She repaid the county $160 in non-specific expenses.

Saralee S. Todd, one of Duncan’s special assistants, paid most of her expenses and sought reimbursement only for the NACo registration fee, $415.

Teng’s expenses totaled $2,809.28. The records also showed Dieter Klinger of the Department of Technology Services also attended the conference, at a cost of $2,650.46.

County Councilwoman Marilyn J. Praisner (D-Dist. 4) of Calverton also attended the conference. Because her expenses were paid by the county’s legislative branch, they were not included in the records release. She previously reported the cost of the $415 registration fee and a $756.62 plane ticket.

Council spokesman Patrick Lacefield said Tuesday that Praisner also reported $1,303.50 for her hotel and $105.50 for other travel expenses for a total of $2,580.62. She did not claim meals, Lacefield said.

Duncan and three other county employees went on the El Salvador trip: Joe Heiney-Gonzalez, Duncan’s Latino⁄Hispanic liaison; Bernadette Musselwhite of the county’s Department of Economic Development; and spokesman David S. Weaver.

The trip also included Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Dist. 18) of Chevy Chase; Prince George’s Councilman William Campos (D); Jose Barahona, owner of the Pollo Campero restaurants; Carlos Menjivar of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Montgomery County; Raul Cano-Rogers of the Iberoamerican Chamber of Commerce of Greater Washington; and Gustavo Torres, Casa of Maryland.

Duncan, Heiney-Gonzalez, Musselwhite and Weaver repaid the county about $1,200 in personal expenses, including alcohol at dinner, Bigler said.

The trip grew out of a September 2004 meeting between Duncan and René Antonio León Rodriguez, the Salvadoran ambassador. León said businesses in El Salvador want to develop relationships that could lead to business ventures in Montgomery County.

More than a half-million Salvadoran immigrants live in the Washington metropolitan region. U.S. Salvadoran residents send about $2 billion annually to family members in their native country, representing about one-third of the El Salvador annual revenue.