The City of Lake Worth Free Lunch

Everything IS political in Lake Worth but the fact that Commissioner Mulvehill raised the question regarding the amount of spending on conferences and travel was not. This was a sound comment--don't spend too much from your budget on any one trip thus avoiding excess spending. After all, the fiscal year has just begun.

Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell used one of his famous bombastic exaggerations by accusing the minority commissioners of being poitical by saying, "We're all born again fiscal conservatives three weeks before election day" when it was only the majority trio that twisted the facts to suit their political mumbo jumbo. Why can't there ever just be debate without the nastiness? Commissioners should set an example of cordiality that would then trickle down to those in the chamber who know if their commissioner is a wise guy then they can be as well...and they are and they're allowed to get away with it, free speech and all.

We just started our new fiscal budget on October 1 and now after much discussion, the commission agreed to limit spending to $1,700 per elected official per trip. The only dissenter to the vote was Amoroso. I guess he believes, along with the mayor, that you should be able to spend your budget in any manner you choose...remember New York. The overall yearly budget for all 5 commissioners is $15,000, or $3,000 a piece. 

With Maxwell, Triolo and Amoroso attending the League of Cities convention in historical Boston, one of the oldest and expensive cities in the world for travel, this will deplete the yearly travel budget by a little over 1/3rd.  Just the cost of each commissioner to attend the convention is $570. Factor in air travel, 5 days of food and 4 nights in expensive Boston with room rates from the very low end at $129 a night on up to $265 a night--what sort of a final cost do you think this will be? The five-day conference, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 27-Dec. 1, 2012, will bring thousands of local elected officials together from across the country to share ideas on how to screw its citizens. And of course,  Party Time! There will be 11 more months of travel and conferences to go.

If each commissioner wants to spend his yearly allotment on one trip, then he should be allowed to do so but don't dare come back and get any more money for anything relative to this line item or borrow from another commissioner's allotment. And we want a full report from each commissioner plus all attendance records. :) And last but not least, please don't break any Sunshine Laws.