Comments on: County Commissioner Expenses Debated

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:19:34 +0000

Oh, and… geocaching? What does the Ypsilanti District Library have to do with geocaching?

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 00:50:44 +0000

Thanks, Leah, good to know there is a comprehensive review.

My point was that if per diem payments were continued for members of a particular board and a commissioner was a full-fledged member of that board, then he/she could theoretically claim a per diem not as a commissioner, but as a board member.

I’m sure that you will all sort this out and I have no need to dig into checkbook registers (though I celebrate this new utility).

By: Leah Gunn

Leah Gunn — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:15:24 +0000

To Vivienne – the entire structure of boards and commissions appointed by the BOC is being looked at in depth and a comprehensive package will be prsented at the first meeting in December. Some of these need to be restructured and some eliminated – but some are required by law. I have also advocated for the elimination of per diems for these volunteers as well. If you want to see who takes them and who does not, go to the ocunty checkbook register on line.

And of course my resolution refers to ALL per diems for Commissioners – there is no difference among meetings, whether they are Ways & Means, Working Sessions or committees that Commissioners attend.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:41:34 +0000

I don’t think per diems are necessarily a bad idea in principle, for legitimate county business… but it’s hard to draw a bright line delineating what is and what isn’t legitimate, and as Ouimet’s example shows (in my opinion) that makes them too easy to abuse.

I am a little boggled at the “donated to charity” thing. Why not just not take them?

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:31:44 +0000

As commendable as it is, I’d like to see the measure expanded to include per diems paid to all board and commission members. Per diem payment should not be necessary to volunteer activity and is not a custom in the city of Ann Arbor, where plenty of people volunteer happily to be on these bodies.

I suspect that there would be considerable savings, not just in the payments themselves, but in the accounting and mailing costs (each per diem recipient is due a 1099 at tax time, for example).

If the per diem payments to commissioners are the only ones eliminated, there needs to be a policy decision as to whether those payments would be made to commissioners who serve on a board or commission as part of their BOC assignments.

By: Mark Koroi

Mark Koroi — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:16:17 +0000

Thank you for your actions, Commissioners Gunn and Bergman.

Kristin Judge has recently announced that she is going to be repaying questionable per diems and mileage cited by Larry Kestenbaum’s report.

The County Commission members need to reimburse the county and abolish per diems and mileage reimbursements in the future.

The adoption of Commissioner Gunn’s proposed resolution is sorely needed and would bring a measure of respect and gratitude from the electorate.

By: Barbara Levin Bergman

Barbara Levin Bergman — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 19:02:51 +0000

Lee Gunn, you have my vote. I fully support your mileage, travel, per diem and pension elimination resolution.

A check is in the mail for all my unconfirmed per diems.

Barbara Levin Bergman

By: Leah Gunn

Leah Gunn — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 18:36:59 +0000

I appreciate the Chronicle’s history of my efforts to eliminate per diems and the MPPP. However, it takes six votes to do anything. I thought then and still think now that the “flex” accounts are a sham. I have not spent one cent of mine. The entire amount will go back to the General Fund at the end of the year. In addition, I have today mailed a check to the County Clerk for $175.00 to reimburse the county for my “questionable” per diems. (I did not have any that were deemed “ineligible”.)Although I stopped taking per diems in 2008 and have never applied for mileage, I sincerely believed that the three committees mentioned (Washtenaw Metro Alliance, Literacy Coalition and the organizing meeting for the Food System Econommic Partnership) were legitimate county initiatives. The Metro Alliance has stopped meeting because the county does not have the money to staff it, and the FSEP and Liteacy Coalition are now successful and independentt organizations, thanks to the beginning support from us in Washtenaw County government.

I might add that I have not spent one nickel on travel for quite some time. I went to a few meetings years ago, and found that we are either way ahead of other counties in how we do things, or that we don’t have the jurisdiction for many of the topics that were discussed. When you add travel expenses to the report from the Clerk, you will see Commissioners’ expenses take quite a jump.

I plan to reintroduce my resolution to eliminate all per diems, travel and mileage at the first meeting in December. At this time, I don’t think I have six votes, but that will not stop me from trying.