OCR Text |
Show Travel By Utali Officials State $800,000 During Past Year Travel by officials of Utah i State government cost approximately approxi-mately $800,000 during the 1948 fiscal year ended June 30. it was reported by Utah Foundation, Founda-tion, the non-profit private research re-search agency, in the latest of its studies of Utah State government govern-ment made public this week. This amount includes $667,142 charged to travel accounts in State reports plus an estimated $133,000 in travel costs for state-owned state-owned cars for which only part of the expense appears as travel on state records. Travel costs have mounted substantially in recent years. Finance Fi-nance Commission totals quoted by the Foundation report show $387,575 for 1944, $412,207 for 1946, and $667,142 for 1948, in addition to car operation costs charged to accounts other than travel, Utah owned 54 passenger cars in 1942. The number increased to 82 in 1946, and to 146 in 1948. These figures do not include Highway Patrol cars. Since 1942, it is noted, there has been a marked trend toward furnishing state-owned cars for the individual use of most commissioners com-missioners and department heads. Regulations, records, and reports pertaining to travel by stale-owned cars are lax and incomplete, in-complete, but are better for in- i state travel by private car, according ac-cording to the Utah Foundation analysts, The Utah Board of Examiners, which must aprove all out-of-state travel, authorized 448 trips to 94 different cities in 35 states and Canada in the fiscal year 1948. Most of the trips were to attend conventions, the number and variety of which have multiplied mul-tiplied rapidly in recent years. Legislative attempts to apply travel restrictions by limitations included in the Appropriation Act were ruled invalid because of prior general statutes, which in the Attorney General's opinion opin-ion must be expressly repealed or modified if the change is to be effective. The Finance .Commission, although al-though empowered to issue travel trav-el regulations, cannot under the present Utah law effectively limit the extent of official state travel which has the approval of the respective departmental administrators. ad-ministrators. The Finance Commission can and does check travel claims for excessive or improper charges, char-ges, but encounters vigorous departmental de-partmental resistance if the attempt at-tempt is made to overrule departmental de-partmental discretion as to what trips are necessary if appropriations appropria-tions have not been exceeded. |