Comptroller Responds to County Reimbursement Questions

Carroll County Comptroller Rob Burk, responding to publication of county commissioner and employee expense records, said that he is not aware of any misuse of mileage reimbursements.

Patch blogger and a founder of the citizens group Citizens United for Carroll County (CUCC) questioned travel expenses submitted by Commissioner Robin Frazier in a blog post earlier this week. He supplied copies of reimbursement forms and checks that he obtained from the county through the Public Information Act.

The current board of commissioners elected to forego the issuance of county vehicles when members took office. Although the commissioners don't use the vehicles for daily travel, they do have access to county vehicles for travel to county-related business.

Burk said that county employees are reimbursed at 45 cents per mile when they choose to use their personal vehicles for travel.

According to Burk, previous boards have received weekly per diems for travel to work. He said the current board of commissioners discontinued the weekly per diems when they took office.

"County employees get reimbursed for travel to and from a county function or function of their office, but not for commuting," Burk said.

There is a system of checks and balances in place according to Burk. He said that when an expense form is submitted, it is signed by a supervisor or in the case of the commissioners, a fellow commissioner or the chief of staff. Then a staff member in the comptroller's office reviews the request to insure it complies with policy he said.

"I am not aware of any abuses," Burk said. "And hopefully we would catch such cases before they're reimbursed."

Commissioner Frazier could not be reached for comment.