(a) Per diem meal and local ground travel and communications allowances.
(1) Officials and employees of the city shall be allowed the following maximum per diem expenses, when traveling away from the city and outside the county on authorized official city business, which expenses shall be reimbursed without the necessity of providing a receipt:
A. Local ground travel and communications expenses: $8.50;
B. Breakfast: $10;
C. Lunch: $20; and
D. Dinner: $30.
(2) Provided further, however, that there shall be no per diem reimbursement for meals provided as part of the fee for registration at a seminar or convention. No reimbursement in excess of these amounts shall be allowed under any circumstances.
(b) Use of personal automobile: mileage allowance. Unless otherwise provided pursuant to provisions of a collective bargaining agreement between the city and a bargaining unit of the city representing the employee, officials and employees of the city shall be allowed and paid the current IRS standard business rate per mile driven in their own automobiles on authorized official city business, excepting all travel compensated for and paid by way of blanket annual allowance authorized in the salary ordinance. Reimbursement for parking, tolls and other charges incidental to such automobile travel shall be allowed upon tender of vouchers. Payment for mileage shall only be made where the employee or official maintains a contemporaneous mileage log, with mileage logged therein turned in to the Director of Finance for payment no less than quarterly.
(c) Registration fees and public transportation. All registration fees and public transportation other than local ground travel utilized by city officials or employees on authorized official city business shall be requisitioned and approved in advance and then booked and paid directly by the city or, in emergency situations only, reimbursed upon production of vouchers at the rates approved by the appropriate department head, the Mayor and the Finance Director. Travel shall be by the means most economical for the city considering time and other costs of travel.
(d) Hotels and lodgings. Expense incurred for reasonable and necessary hotel or public lodgings when traveling away from the city on authorized official city business shall be reimbursed in the amount expended therefor upon tender of appropriate vouchers.
(e) Authorized official city business. The term
AUTHORIZED OFFICIAL CITY BUSINESS
includes only activities that are for the benefit of the city and authorized by the appropriate department head and the Mayor. The “appropriate department head” of Council shall be the President or a majority of Council acting at a public meeting; otherwise, it is the director of the department of which the traveling officer or employee is a member; provided further, that officials of the city shall also be authorized the mileage allowance in division (b) above for the mileage incurred while conducting Council business within the city limits in the carrying out of their duties. The mileage shall be recorded on forms prescribed by the appropriate department head and shall be approved by the appropriate department head as provided herein prior to submission for payment to the Department of Finance.
(f) Nonreimbursible items; reimbursement procedure. Reimbursement shall only be for expenses authorized and incurred for the benefit of the city and after tender of appropriate vouchers, which tender shall not be waived except as authorized in this section. No reimbursement shall be allowed for tips or gratuities, alcoholic beverages, personal telephone calls, expenses for guest visiting or for entertainment. No reimbursement shall be allowed for any expense incurred by reason of arrival earlier than one-half day before the authorized official city business is commenced or holding over later than one-half day after such business is completed. The procedure for payment of allowable claims shall be as provided in this section and in § 64 of the Charter.
(Ord. 7144, passed 4-11-1978; Ord. 7363, passed 12-18-1979; Ord. 114-98, passed 11-4-1998; Ord. 46-08, passed 8-19-2008)