9/12/2011: I won’t have a change to look through these for a bit, entire pdf here. One sample below. Kenton is following Pernsteiner‘s lead, billing OUS for every croissant he can. Read Steve Duin’s Oregonian post on Kenton’s new contract. Last year’s story on Pernsteiner here is just as damning.
$13 on breakfast? That’s a lot of McMuffins. PEBB’s new 40″ waist limit is going to come back and bite these administrators.
$13 is the standard per diem. Based on his business schedule / meeting up in Portland, I don’t see anything in this page of the expense report that is particularly of any issue. it’s a cost of doing business and is in-line with general practices. If anything, OUS’s per diem rates are lower than the Federal per diem rates for the Portland area.
$52 per day, $13, $13, $26. All standard by state rules. It looks like he’s billing everything he can, but no more. $1300 a month, well it does add up.
Does every university employee have a expense account that let’s them get reimbursed like this?
So why don’t they use the motor pool? Costs about 1/3 less typically than using own car and seeking reimbursement. Plus less personal liability then if use own car (if you drive your own car, your own insurance must pay out before the UO insurance hits).
Regarding per diems, you do not typically get reimbursements for 1-day trips. See UO policy at http://ba.uoregon.edu/staff/travel-reimbursement#One_day_trips
Re: per diem, if you leave before 7am you get breakfast, if you get back after 6pm, you get dinner.
The $1,300 in this particular month is primarily mileage, not per diem.
On personal use vs motor pool, motor pool cars are not always available and not always a viable option. There is no policy mandating them, and they are not 1/3 of the cost of using your own vehicle and getting reimbursed. Maybe on the gas versus reimbursement, but there is cost of the vehicle and maintenance. Honestly, it’s roughly a wash.
Considering the technology available, and all the “working from home” that is done. Is there justification for instate travel? These types of expenses seem antiquated and costly.
Considering the technology, it also still makes sense to have an amount of justifiable in-state travel for meetings. Meetings are far more productive face-to-face.