Full text of the report Rowswell wanted to change

The following is the full, unedited text of the report that Mayor Rowswell tried unsuccessfully to keep off the agenda for Monday's City Council meeting. The report was written by Cindy Adam, the City's manager of internal audit.

*************************************************************************** September 23, 2002

Mayor John Rowswell and Members of City Council

Re: Out-Of-Province Travel Policies

At the Council Meeting on February 25, 2002, the following resolution was passed:

Whereas overseas or out of province travel has the potential for economic benefits for Sault Ste. Marie; and

Whereas overseas or out of province travel is a relatively new activity for Council and staff; and

Whereas overseas or out of province travel may be substantially more expensive than in province travel; and

Whereas Sault Ste. Marie has been invited to send a delegation to Ireland and may have other overseas or out of province invitations in the future; and

Whereas Council as a whole should set out clear objectives to justify overseas or out of province travel prior to any approval;

Now therefore be it resolved that staff report back to council on parameters regarding overseas or out of province travel that includes but is not limited to: spending habits, purchasing and expenses covered and staff set up accounting expense practices for travel in province, out of province or overseas;

And further be it resolved that the Treasurer arrange for the provision of the appropriate means of currency whether travelers cheques, cash or corporate charge cards when traveling overseas or out of province;

And further be it resolved that upon return from overseas or out of province travel an assessment of accomplishments be presented by those travelling to improve planning of future travel;

And that a copy of this resolution be provided to the International Relations Committee for their comment back to staff in preparation of the report.

The overall intent of this policy is to support legitimate business rated travel expenses. Out of province or international travel differs in both costs and benefits from travel within the province.

The scope of this report is to review the existing travel policy to determine the adequacy of procedures and accounting expense practices for out of province travel, and to report various options and recommendations for improving the process.

Information was gathered from various sources including other municipalities, school boards, and government organizations.

The results of this report are included in the following sections: Comparison of Travel Policies, Recommended Additions to Current Travel Policy, Other Recommendations, and Conclusion.

Comparison of travel policies:

In reviewing our travel policy and the expenditures covered, a number of organizations were asked to provide information regarding their travel policies.

Attached to this report, is a Comparison of Travel Policies Summary, which outlines the various travel expense practices obtained from our survey of selected municipalities, government organizations, and from educational institutions in the Sault Ste. Marie area.

Out of Country travel in most local organizations happens infrequently, so information regarding out of country travel to other than the United States was difficult to find.

Using the surveyed results, the comparison shows the amounts, which are reimbursed for the following major categories of travel expenditures:

- Accommodation is reimbursed at actual cost in all of the surveyed responses. Most policies state that the expense must be reasonable in the circumstances.

- Meals – The per diem for meals while travelling varies from $40.00 to $70.00. It is important to note that the higher end per diems include the cost of miscellaneous items, such as taxi’s and parking in the per diems. In three cases were meals reimbursed at actual costs. Where meals are reimbursed at actual costs, one organization stated that the meal costs must be reasonable or they will be disallowed. Another organization reimburses meals, with receipts, at actual costs up to a maximum of $55.00.

- Transportation/Airfare is reimbursed at actual cost in all cases. Some policies state that the traveller must book far enough in advance in order to get a reasonable flight cost.

- Mileage is reimbursed on a per kilometre basis in all surveyed organizations ranging from 30.5 cents per kilometre to 43.5 cents per kilometre.

- Ground transportation such as taxis and parking are reimbursed at actual costs, except in those instances where they are included in the per diem.

- Out of Country travel policies state that expenditures such as accommodation, airfare, and transportation are reimbursed at actual cost in foreign dollars translated into Canadian dollars. For those organizations that use a per diem rate for meals, the per diem rate for travelling in the United States is the same as the usual per diem rate for travelling in Canada, except that it is paid in US funds. For the City of Sault Ste. Marie this would mean that travellers to the United States would be allowed $55 in US funds for per diem per day.

For travel outside of the United States and Canada, respondents from the City of Toronto and the Ontario Lottery Corporation indicated that per diem would be paid in US funds.

The Treasury Board of Canada uses a schedule in which per diems are specified by country, and in some cases, per city. This schedule is updated every few months.

Current City of Sault Ste. Marie policy states that a $55 per diem will be paid for out of city travel. There is no provision for a different allowance for out of country travel. Regarding past spending habits, overseas travel has proven to be more expensive than our current per diem rate.

After examining the various expenditures relating to the Winter Cities Conference in Japan in February 2002, it was clear that our current per diem of $55 Canadian per day for travel was not sufficient, as the average cost for meals in Japan was $114.35 per day.

Regarding the Mayor’s trip to Russia to further explore the Transpolar Initiatives in February 2002, the meal allowance of $55 Canadian per day was claimed.

The actual costs of meals in Russia during the trip was not known, as receipts were not required to be kept when per diem is being claimed.

The current per diem rate of $55 Canadian was also claimed for the Ireland trip in May 2002.

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