Margate CRA asks staff to review travel reimbursement policy; board seeks standard room and car limits
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Summary
Board members asked staff to draft suggested changes to travel reimbursement rules (standard room rates and standard car rentals) at the Oct. 7 meeting, citing a desire to close perceived loopholes and respond to scrutiny of public spending.
At the Oct. 7 meeting, a board member asked staff to review the CRA's travel reimbursement policy and bring back suggested revisions that would clarify reimbursement for standard hotel rooms and standard rental vehicles.
The board member said the change would prevent upgrades or extra-family travel costs from being charged to the CRA and cited recent attention from law-enforcement or oversight entities, saying, "with the DOJ coming into Broward County and looking into books and things, I think it kinda closes a loophole and keeps us a little bit safer, from what they're calling wasteful spending." That comment was offered as justification for drafting a policy change; the transcript attributes the DOJ remark to a board member and not to staff or counsel.
Staff and other board members raised practical enforcement questions: one member noted variability in rental-car fleets and room rates and warned that strict rules could be hard to apply in practice. The board did not adopt a formal policy at the meeting; instead the manager offered to draft suggested language and best practices for the board to consider at a future meeting.
On the record, the board asked staff to prepare suggested revisions and options for administration, but no binding direction or vote was recorded.
The review request is for internal administrative policy; if the board later proposes ordinance-level changes or attaches budget allocations to travel reimbursements, those actions would appear on a future agenda.