(A) Prior to any travel, an employee will receive prior written approval through the submission of a Travel, Meeting and Training Request (HR Form 09) in Appendix A. The Travel, Meeting and Training Request Form will be reviewed and approved by the employee’s immediate supervisor and the Mayor. Any travel that has not been approved in the city operating or travel budget will be approved by amendment of the budget by the City Council.
(B) Registration for conferences and meetings will be performed by the City Clerk or other designated staff. Before registration is complete, the employee will provide the City Clerk with an approved copy of the Travel, Meeting and Training Request Form. Employees should make an effort to provide this information in a timely manner so that the lowest possible registration fees may be obtained.
(C) Reservations for overnight lodging will be made by the City Clerk unless otherwise approved by the Mayor. Before reservations are made, the employee will provide an approved copy of the Travel, Meeting and Training Request Form to the City Clerk.
(1) Reservations will be made in such a manner to secure the best available rate for safe, clean and secure accommodations that are as close to the meeting location as possible. Every attempt should be made to stay in the hotel hosting the conference or meeting and to pay the conference room rate.
(2) In-room movies, room service, mini-bar, use of hotel gym, spa or massage services, sauna facilities or other additions to room bills are not reimbursable. Only usual and customary expenses are eligible for reimbursement.
(3) A copy of the hotel folio or receipt showing proof of payment will be submitted by the employee for reimbursement.
(D) Employees may use a city owned vehicle or their own vehicle for business travel on behalf of the city. Employees will adhere to the following process related to mileage reimbursement.
(1) When an employee traveling on behalf of the city chooses to use his or her personal vehicle, the employee will be reimbursed for mileage.
(2) An employee will be reimbursed at the mileage rate allowed by the commonwealth rate for business expense deductions under the following guidelines.
(a) An employee will not be reimbursed for transportation or commuting between the employee’s home and his or her permanent workplace.
(b) Mileage will not be reimbursed for attendance of a city function or event held outside of the workplace unless the employee has been assigned to work at the event.
(c) When an employee does not report to his or her permanent workplace or makes business trips before or after reporting to his or her permanent workplace, the allowable mileage is:
1. The lesser of the mileage from the employee’s residence to the first stop or from the office to the first stop;
2. All mileage between points visited on city business during the day; and
3. The lesser of the mileage from the last stop to the employee’s residence or from the last stop to the city office.
(d) To receive mileage reimbursement, the employee will state on his or her expense report the total number of miles traveled on city business. The employee will include the starting points and ending destination for each trip along with a description of the purpose of the travel. Any travel of a personal nature while on city business will be deducted from the total miles traveled.
(e) Parking violations and traffic or other moving motor violations are not reimbursable expenses.
(f) If the employee is involved in an auto accident while driving his or her own privately owned vehicle on city business, he or she will follow the vehicle accident reporting requirements policy outlined in § 36.081.
(E) Except for reimbursable expenses related to official city business as provided in §§ 36.100 through 36.108, employees will only be provided reimbursement for meals involving overnight travel within the commonwealth and for trips requiring travel after 7:00 p.m. Meal and incidental reimbursement amounts will be determined using the federal per diem schedule for each meal as established by the U.S. General Services Administration (USGSA) at www.gsa.gov. The applicable rates are established and updated by the USGSA on October 1 of each year and are available from the City Clerk upon request. No receipts are required for per diem meal reimbursement and an employee will receive meal reimbursements in accordance with the following guidelines.
(1) For overnight travel, an employee is responsible for identifying the city of travel and the associated per diem rates for each meal. The per diem amounts include the cost of the meal and gratuity and no additional amounts will be reimbursed. An employee will be reimbursed the per diem amounts for breakfast, lunch, dinner and incidentals for full days of travel involving overnight stay. An employee will receive per diem reimbursement for only certain meals on both the first and the last day of travel depending on the employee’s departure and return times. The employee will use the per diems applicable to the city of primary destination. The city of primary destination is the city the employee is traveling to on days of departure and the city the employee is traveling from on days of return. If the employee is visiting multiple cities and has stayed overnight within the state, the employee will select one city to serve as the primary destination for calculation of the per diems for the day.
(a) Breakfast will be reimbursed if the employee departs for travel before 7:30 a.m.
(b) Lunch will be reimbursed when the employee is traveling through 2:00 p.m.
(c) Dinner will be reimbursed if the employee will not return until 7:00 p.m. or later.
(2) For travel after 7:00 p.m. not involving overnight stay, an employee may elect to be reimbursed the allowable dinner per diem applicable to the city the employee is traveling to or from. The city will include the reimbursement as additional income to the employee and applicable taxes will be withheld from the employee’s gross pay.
(3) The city will not reimburse a meal per diem allowance for any meal that is included in a registration fee for a conference or training when the employee’s meal is covered under a group meal receipt submitted under division (E)(4) below or when a receipt has been submitted for reimbursement as an expense related to official city business as provided in §§ 36.100 through 36.108. Conference or training functions where finger foods or hors d’oeuvres are served and continental breakfasts provided by hotels or conference sponsors do not constitute meals and the employee is entitled to claim per diem for that meal.
(4) If the employee has attended a conference or training in conjunction with the travel, the employee is required to submit a detailed program agenda for per diem meal reimbursement.
(5) Employees may submit and receive reimbursement for a group meal receipt for more than one employee if the dining establishment is unable or unwilling to provide individual checks; provided that the total cost of the meal does not exceed the total allowable per diems for all the participating employees. An employee submitting a group meal receipt will follow the procedures required in §§ 36.100 through 36.108 for reimbursement on an expense report or the use of a city credit card policy in § 36.102 when using a city credit card for documentation of the expense and will additionally state on the receipt that the receipt is for a group meal and the name of each participating employee. Employees covered by a group meal receipt will not be eligible for per diem reimbursement for that meal.
(F) The city will reimburse employees for the following expenses relating to parking.
(1) An employee will be reimbursed for parking at hotels or overnight lodging accommodation for city-related meetings or in conjunction with business travel for the city. Employees will only be reimbursed for standard hotel parking rates unless the option is not available. Employees electing for valet parking will only be reimbursed up to an amount equal to the standard parking rates applicable at the hotel.
(2) All other business-related parking fees are reimbursable upon the submission of a valid receipt in accordance with the employee expense reports and reimbursement policy in § 36.101.
(G) Employees may be reimbursed for taxis, ride-sharing services, shuttles, public transportation and rapid transit used for business-related transportation. Employees may be reimbursed for the payment of gratuities for taxi drivers up to a maximum of 20% of the total fare. The employee will submit a receipt in accordance with the employee expense reports and reimbursement policy in § 36.101.
(H) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this policy, gratuities related to employee travel will not be a reimbursable expense.
(I) The city will not reimburse or pay for the travel of an employee’s family member or other guest. When a family member or other guest joins an employee on business-related travel, the employee or the guest is responsible for paying all travel costs including airfare and meals.
(J) Except for the travel-related expenses outlined in this policy, all other travel-related expenses are deemed non-reimbursable unless approved in writing by the Mayor and accounted for in the city budget. An employee will submit his or her travel-related expenses for reimbursement on an Expense Report Form within 15 days after the end of the month in which the travel expenses were incurred as provided in §§ 36.100 through 36.108.
(K) In the case of extreme financial hardship, an advance for overnight travel may be granted to an employee by the Mayor. The request will be made by the employee in writing with enough time to approve the request and process an advance check. An employee who has received a travel advance must deduct the total amount of the advances from the total reimbursement request when submitting an expense report detailing expenditures. If the amount of the advance exceeds the total reimbursable expenditures, the employee will pay the difference back to the city.