San Diego city leaders must start keeping track of their mileage if they want to keep their annual auto allowance.
City Attorney Jan Goldsmithrecently discussed the flat amount of $9,600. He submitted a memo suggesting that council members drop the flat rate in exchange for expense reports turned in on an as-needed basis.
The San Diego City Council gets a greater car allowance than any of its counterparts in California's 15 largest cities, according to a published report.
"If, for example, a bunch of council members come in there and they show two, three thousand dollars a year . . . in their actual expenses, . . . you use that to help set a flat rate," Goldsmith told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "You don't set a flat rate of $9,000. Clearly, clearly unreasonable."
The San Diego City Council may have to lower or abandon the amount if it can't justify the rate is reasonable under the law.
Goldsmith told voiceofsandiego.org he personally doesn’t accept the auto allowance.
Two out of eight council members accept the flat allowance according to the U-T. Others “pledged to go without or submit for mileage reimbursement” according to the paper.
Read more about the auto allowance and Government Code section 53232.3 in this article on voiceofsandiego.org or in this article in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
