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Travel Cost Hikes Spur More Reimbursement for Humboldt Supes · KMUD News

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Though public blowback to it was alluded to, increases in travel expense reimbursements to Humboldt county supervisors has gotten approval. A majority of the Board of Supervisors voted for the annual increases, which amount to 7.5% for the next fiscal year, plus an additional 5,000 annually for supervisors in larger districts. The current annual Travel allowance is $10,300 per supervisor, a level that hasn't changed in about 10. The increased proposal was agendized by Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, whose 2nd District is one of the larger ones. Bushnell noted her district's distance from Eureka and its size and the public pushback against reimbursement increases.
• 0:48
  Speaker B: And I know, you know, that this is always a hard discussion to have, but I don't want to keep turning in my mileage, and also I don't. I've really drawn back from going on some conferences that I've wanted to because I know that my mileage often exceeds that. And I. So I just want to have the conversation with the board, and I think it's a fair conversation. I also, you know, it gets beat up in the media, which is not fair. And, you know, likewise, it happened this time with Lost Coast Outpost. They wanted to say a lot of things about it and be negative about it, but it is the work we do for the county. And. And it is, you know, right now, with gas being $6 a gallon and diesel being almost $7 a gallon, it's not an easy travel time, and it hasn't been for some time.
• 1:35
  Speaker A: Bushnell later clarified that often the blowback is in the comments, and sometimes the headings are not always the friendliest, but it is to capture the eye. Board chair Mike Wilson said travel in his district, which is largely made up of Arcata in its greater area and the eureka Centric District 4 involves much less distance than districts 1, 2, and 5.
• 2:00
  Speaker C: I want to say that the differential between the districts in terms of travel budget has only grown. And what I mean by that is there are two of us that most of our population and the issues we deal with are fairly close to where we live. And I just want to preempt that by saying, or if that our travel budgets have been both in county and out of county, they just kind of mush together. And so those supervisors with larger districts have had some pretty substantial travel parts of their travel budget that have been within the county. And there are those of us who don't have that same challenge.
• 2:43
  Speaker A: Supervisor Natalie Arroyo said, quote, this item often gets a lot of blowback, and I understand where people are coming from. But, she added, there's return on investment in the form of training and meeting with officials from other counties. Supervisor Steve Madrone's District 5 is one of the larger ones, and he said he's foregone an annual allowance of $3,000 to attend the California State association of Counties Conference so that I can have the funds to be able to do my district work. Madrone noted the status of the county budget While our costs have gone up
• 3:21
  Speaker C: and, you know, 72 cents for mileage
• 3:23
  Speaker A: now rather than 50, etc.
• 3:24
  Speaker C: Our county budget is, you know, really
• 3:27
  Speaker A: bad shape and stuff.
• 3:28
  Speaker C: So I'm willing to live within the amount that I'm currently allocated just because I know 15,000 doesn't seem like a lot of money, but every little chunk adds up, so that's my two cents.
• 3:40
  Speaker A: With Madrone voting against, the board voted to increase the current $10,300 level by 7.5% for the fiscal year beginning July 1, with increases of 2.5% in subsequent years. That's the across the board increase, with the larger district supervisors reimbursed up to 5,000 more per year. En Eureka for KMUD News, this is Daniel Mintz.