NEWPORT BEACH : City Travel Policy Trims the Frills

Officials traveling on city business may no longer have carte blanche to fly first class or stay in posh hotel suites, but soon may have to follow stricter regulations.

The new travel expense policy, nearly one year in the planning stage, won approval from the city’s budget committee and is expected to go to City Council in coming weeks.

Finance Director Dennis Danner said the policy had little to do with reports earlier this year that some planning commissioners and City Council members routinely stayed in expensive accommodations and dined in fine restaurants while doing business in other cities.

“Our (existing) policy is very general . . . (but) I don’t know if there was ever any abuses of travel expenses,” Danner said.

The new policy sets a number of specific guidelines about which costs are covered by the city and which are not, and details how much the city will reimburse its travelers for trips.

A main feature of the new policy is that it limits daily expenses to $50 for out-of-pocket costs such as meals and laundry. It further requires those city officials traveling by plane to fly coach or a comparable class, and that they stay in standard-rate hotel rooms.