Nov 17, 2009 7:34 pm US/Eastern
Travel Missions Continue Costing In The Thousands
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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File: Commissioner Natacha Seijas prides herself in not being available to the media. She was away on a trip abroad at the time this story was written.
CBS4 News
A budget crisis is grounding everything these days in Miami-Dade—programs, paychecks, and the jobs of county employees. Still, for all the hardship some commissioners are still flying high. Their globetrotting trips defy the laws of financial gravity, and the quaint notion of showing concrete proof about the return on investment that taxpayers are entitled to have.
Those are the findings that made front page news at the Miami Herald Tuesday. The Herald documented $217,000 in taxpayer money spent on trade missions over two years, and the newspaper found nothing—in terms of new trade deals-- to show for the trips or the costs.
At least one commissioner disagreed. Rebeca Sosa and staff jetted to the Canary Islands in 2008. The tab to taxpayers-$21,000, but the commissioner said it was one case where dividends were paid. Sosa said, "We were able to bring a direct flight, a new airline to the airport, Aero Europa."
No such luck for Sally Heyman, who flew with fellow commissioners Audrey Edmonson and Natacha Seijas to South Africa in 2007. The bill came to $43,000. Heyman wanted to reopen non-stop flights to Miami but came away frustrated and now says such trade missions should be left to business professionals.
Heyman told
CBS4, "I voted against continuing the program (the travel program.)"
Heyman was outvoted on that score. Commissioners will keep funding the trade mission travel to the tune of $1.2 million next year.
Last month, the Herald found Audrey Edmonson flew to Senegal and South Africa for 12 days with staffers. The cost to taxpayers hasn't been tallied yet, and Edmonson repeatedly refused our request for answers to basic questions such as: Is the trip worth the cost to taxpayers?
The biggest frequent flyer—by far—is Natacha Seijas. Here's a partial list for her and staffers: India at a cost of $28,000, a swing through Europe for $44,000, a trip to Japan and Taiwan this year at a taxpayer price tag of $34,000, and a recent trip to Brazil for $13,000.
If the payoff for taxpayers is coming from all those high flying pursuits, it is not apparent yet. Oh, and Seijas, who routinely boasts of her refusal to talk with reporters, wasn't around Tuesday to be questioned. She was headed to Washington, D.C., on a business trip.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
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