[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of the Town of Chesapeake
Beach 4-15-2004 by Ord. No. O-04-4 (Ch. 3 of the 1997 Town Code).
Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Personnel policies — See Ch. 50.
This provisions of this chapter shall apply to all Town employees,
officers, appointed officials and elected officials, hereinafter defined
as "eligible recipients." All eligible recipients shall be eligible
for repayment of expenses paid by such persons in the course of performing
official Town business that involves travel, transportation and lodging,
subject to the provisions of this chapter. Nothing in this chapter
shall authorize any travel, transportation or lodging on the part
of an eligible recipient, and all Town employees shall remain responsible
to their superior for work assignments.
A.
All expenses to be reimbursed according to the provisions of this
chapter to Town employees and Town officers (except for the Mayor)
shall be subject to the determination that the expense was incurred
in the course of an authorized and proper performance of Town business,
first by the Mayor in his capacity as chief executive officer, and
then by the Town Council in its capacity as the legislative branch
with the power to authorize and appropriate the expenditure of Town
funds. The Mayor's authority may be delegated to the Treasurer.
B.
All expenses to be reimbursed according to the provisions of this
chapter to appointed and elected officials, including the Mayor, shall
be subject to the determination that the expense was incurred in the
course of an authorized and proper performance of Town business, by
the Town Council.
A.
Eligible recipients may be reimbursed for fares, rental fees, tolls,
mileage fees, and other similar expenses related to transportation
for Town business, which may include conferences and conventions.
Eligible recipients must exercise the same care in incurring expenses
that a prudent person would if traveling on personal business. The
Town will not reimburse eligible recipients for excess costs resulting
from circuitous routes, delays, luxury accommodations or services.
The Town will not reimburse eligible recipients for anything but "coach"
or "standard" class accommodations for air and train travel.
B.
Mileage reimbursements for an eligible recipient's use of a
privately owned vehicle shall be made according to the published United
States reimbursement rate, as amended from time to time, on a per-mile
basis. A receipt is not necessary for mileage reimbursement.
A.
A per-diem allowance is a preestablished reimbursement amount that will be paid for lodging, meals and incidental expenses incurred by eligible recipients when traveling on Town business for more than 12 hours in any twenty-four-hour period. Per-diem expenses are expenses incurred by the eligible recipient during such travel for lodging, meals and incidental expenses, and will be reimbursed by the actual cost of lodging plus the M&IE method defined in Subsection B below. Receipts are required for all lodging expenses if they are to be reimbursed.
B.
Meals and incidental expenses method. Meals and incidental expenses
(M&IE) shall be reimbursed according to the daily limits set forth
by the United States General Services Administration for federal travel,
as amended. M&IE limits are categorized into six tiers and are
dependent upon the city or region that is the eligible recipient's
destination or in which the eligible recipient spent the most time
during the twelve-hour period. The M&IE include reimbursement
for all meals, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, as well as incidental
expenses. Receipts for meals are still required for reimbursement.
Receipts or identification of incidental expenses is not required,
and expenses are presumed to have been incurred by the formula. The
M&IE reimbursement shall be reduced by the value attributed to
any meal in the M&IE formula, for any conference or event which
includes a meal (whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner) as a part
of the cost of the event, whether or not the eligible recipient attends
the meal provided by the event.
C.
Tips for porters, hotel maids and servers for meals are included
as part of expenses under the M&IE formula and shall not be separately
reimbursable.
All claims for reimbursement under the provisions of this chapter shall be submitted to the Treasurer within a reasonable period (not to exceed 30 days) of the eligible recipient's return from the travel during which the expense was incurred. All claims must itemize the expenses and provide receipts as required by this chapter. Only claims for expenses already paid by the eligible recipient shall be reimbursable. The Treasurer shall review all reimbursement claims and then submit them to the Mayor and/or Town Council for final approval. Eligible recipients shall make clarifications or respond to questions of the Treasurer necessary to identify the reimbursement rate or reimbursement applicability for each expense. For Town employees and Town officers, the Mayor's determination that the expense is justified according to § 66-2A shall be made prior to submitting the expense reimbursement to the Town Council for approval. The Town Council shall also determine whether the expense is justified according to § 66-2A prior to approving the reimbursement.
Eligible recipients shall only be reimbursed up to the limits
provided in this chapter and shall remain personally responsible for
the amount of an expense which exceeds those limits.
