After Ghana Flap, Loudoun to Study Nearby Counties’ Travel Policies

Loudoun supervisors on Tuesday directed the county staff to study neighboring jurisdictions’ travel policies, following a flap over recent visits to Loudoun’s international sister cities.

County staff members would study other county governments’ travel policies and develop a new policy for travel by county supervisors. It’s a step back from Supervisor Kristen C. Umstattd’s (D-Leesburg) proposal in July for new, more restrictive policies on county-funded travel by supervisors. County supervisors’ publicly funded travel expenses fall under the same policies as county government employees; Umstattd’s proposal would have set up separate, more restrictive policies specific to supervisors.

The discussion comes after an uproar over a county delegation’s travel expenses on a visit to Tema, Ghana, Loudoun’s newest sister city, by Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large), Vice Chair Koran T. Saines (D-Sterling), Supervisor Sylvia R. Glass (D-Broad Run) and their staff. That was followed by a long line of people signed up to speak both for and against those expenses during Tuesday night’s board meeting.

The study proposal was introduced by Saines, who said the concerns from the public were prompted by “misleading coverage.” His proposal, like Umstattd’s, contemplates a policy specific to supervisors and their aides.

“The intent behind the item is to address the feedback that we received, to update our travel policies, but to do so in a way that is reflective of our governing structure and the way that we operate,” he said.

He also compared the Ghana delegation’s expenses, which totaled just under $54,000, to trips by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

“If you're not happy with us traveling, then hopefully you have the same feelings regarding the governor, which traveled to South Korea, Taiwan, and, while we were in Ghana, went to the Paris Air Show,” he said. “So if our travel was a boondoggle, I’m hoping you would say the same thing about that travel.”

Umstattd said she still plans to introduce her new rules for discussion at the board’s Sept. 19 meeting.

“We need to have travel approved by the board, both to personnel going, expenses, and also itinerary, so that we don’t run into the firestorm of public outrage over future trips that we have run into with these two trips,” Umstattd said. Among other changes, her proposal in July would discourage traveling internationally at all, remove the option in current policy to upgrade to business class for flights over 10 hours, and require the full Board of Supervisors to approve a travel itinerary and estimated costs in advance of any county-funded travel by board members or their staff.

“I don't think anyone up here was necessarily trying to rip the taxpayer off. I don't think that's the case at all,” Supervisor Caleb E. Kerhsner (R-Catoctin) said. “But I do think sometimes we get kind of comfortable in our positions, and it's important, I think, that we all step back, including my fellow supervisors, people in the public, and say ‘hey, let's take responsibility. Let's make sure we're spending our taxpayer dollars well.’”

Supervisors on the trip have defended the expenses as not falling on Loudoun taxpayers’ shoulders. Trip expenses were funded by the Economic Development Authority from a fund set up for international travel, which was funded through restricted transient occupancy tax revenues, a tax levied on overnight stays at accommodations like hotels and Airbnbs. Most of those revenues, the “restricted” portion of the tax, must be used for purposes such as encouraging tourism, rather than going into the county’s General Fund to offset other taxes.

“Fairfax County and many counties actually have offices in their sister county locations, and they have people who are staff in those offices, and taxpayer money pays for those offices,” Randall said. “The way we do it is different because we are trying to save money.”

“We would be practicing economic development malpractice if we were not to leverage the fact that we have an international airport at Dulles, and leveraging that international airport for economic diversity helps our entire economy and helps the airport,” Supervisor Juli E. Briskman (D-Algonkian), herself the target of some criticism over a previous delegation to Uruguay, said. “If our award-winning Department of Economic Development, Visit Loudon, and economic development director believe that having a couple of us along on that trip to help build relationships—I'm happy to join and offer my support.”

Supervisors voted for the travel policy study 8-1, with Umstattd opposed.

Saines’s plan directs county staff to study travel policies in Fairfax County, Prince William County, Montgomery County, MD, Prince George’s County, MD, and Frederick County, MD, and develop a travel policy proposal for Loudoun supervisors and their aides.

As in Loudoun, travel policies across the region—and in many governments—generally follow federal General Services Administration rates and policies for travel expenses, sometimes with some local modifications. Montgomery County, MD, for example, follows GSA rates, but restricts county-funded travel to states that restrict access to reproductive health care, a policy put in place after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Some of Loudoun’s rules for travel expenses are already more restrictive than federal rules. For example, Loudoun policy has employees flying coach, but allows an upgrade to business class for international flights over 10 hours. By contrast, federal policy allows flying business class under a range of circumstance, including if employees are required to report to duty the next day or sooner—or on any international flight.

Federal policy allows business class airline tickets on any flight over eight hours to or from destinations outside the continental U.S., which includes Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories like Puerto Rico, and any other country, including neighboring Canada and Mexico. Federal travelers may also upgrade to business class on the government dime for a number of other reasons, such as if flight time, including layovers, is more than 14 hours; if necessary to accommodate a disability or other special need; in “exceptional security circumstances;” or if coach is unavailable.

Little discussed have been possible problems around open meetings law with three supervisors on the trip—if three or more supervisors gather to discuss county business, it must be in a public meeting.