El Paso City Council backs plan to disclose travel spending

The El Paso City Council unanimously approved a directive Tuesday for the city attorney and manager to draft a resolution requiring the public disclosure of city-funded travel expenses, according to KVIA.

The move follows heightened scrutiny of government travel spending across El Paso's public agencies. An ABC-7 investigation in September revealed that members of the El Paso County Commissioners Court spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars on travel over five years, including dozens of legislative trips across the country and internationally to places including Taiwan.

In response to that reporting, county commissioners and the county judge have discussed ways to improve their travel policy by disclosing the reasons for trips and how they benefit taxpayers.

City Representative Chris Canales called for council members to report any city-funded travel expenses upon their return from trips. According to backup documents from Tuesday's meeting, recent public scrutiny of travel expenditures in other local government entities prompted the proposal.

Each council member receives discretionary funds in addition to a $6,000 annual travel allowance, according to KVIA. The new resolution, once drafted and approved, would require those expenditures to be made public.