(A) The county recognizes that the time period required to receive reimbursement through the normal claims process may occasionally cause financial hardship on the attendees, and therefore, the county allows for an advance for the cost of meeting registrations, lodging and estimated meal expenses.
(B) Except for meeting registrations, the request for advance travel must be made no more than seven days and no less than two days in advance of the conference or meeting.
(C) Every effort should be made to prevent processing of meeting registrations after the scheduled deadlines so that the county will not be paying out additional fees for late registrations.
(D) The travel advance request shall be submitted to the Auditor’s office on a claim form along with a copy of the conference or meeting registration form and/or agenda showing the purpose, date and location of the meeting. The Auditor’s office may deny issuing an advance travel check if sufficient backup is not included on the claim.
(E) Travel advance shall be issued by the Auditor’s office only if the respective attendee’s department budget has sufficient appropriation available in the travel account. Under no circumstances shall the Auditor’s office issue a travel advance if there is not sufficient appropriation available, nor can travel be paid out of another department’s budget other than the department requesting the advance.
(F) Requests for travel advances cannot exceed $500 or the prevailing lodging costs for the associated travel, whichever is greater, for an individual attendee. Advances cannot be sought and will not be issued for mileage reimbursement.
(G) Itemized receipts from advance travel claims shall be submitted to the Auditor’s office within three days after returning from county travel.
(Ord. O-C-06-12/O-CC-06-2, passed 12-20-2006)