EDITORIAL: Councilmen should follow spending rules

Florence City Council has budgeted $30,000 for travel in 2009-2010, distributing it evenly among the six members and Mayor Stephen J. Wukela.

Council wanted to control expenses after spending about $75,000 on travel in the last two years. Councilmen Ed Robinson and Billy D. Williams accounted for $62,000 of the $75,000, giving the impression travel requests needed more analysis and oversight.

The first test of the council’s resolve on spending came Monday. A resolution to reimburse Williams for a lobbying trip to Washington was voted down because Williams did not have preauthorization to exceed his cap for spending this fiscal year.

Under the equal distribution of funds, each council member faces a $4,285.71 spending limit. Williams was at $3,731.56 before the trip, leaving him with a balance of $554.15 and forcing him to ask Council to approve the additional $1,186.

Williams attended the National League of Cities annual conference. He also met with Florence’s congressional delegation, including Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., who told Williams about $40 million was headed to the city for sewer improvements.

The decision to deny Williams’ travel expenses outraged Williams and Robinson, who argued the trip was for business purposes and should have been covered under the city’s travel policy.

Robinson and Williams were right. The trip was for business.

But Williams was wrong for not clearing the trip before going and suffered the consequences of failing to abide by Council’s own rules.

“If I can go on these trips and find the city of Florence that kind of money and you’re going to say I don’t need to get reimbursed ... C’mon, now,” Williams said. “Do you want everything for nothing?”

In his anger over the issue, Robinson suggested the decision was intended to keep projects away from council Districts 1 and 2.

“I can’t see why there would be any opposition to this,” Robinson said of the reimbursement. “This man (Williams) has gone to do work for the city of Florence, so the city of Florence owes him, and he expects to be reimbursed.

“We are human beings,” he added, “and sometimes, the actions this council takes dehumanize us. We cannot grow this city this way. All we are asking for is equity. We want our fair shares, and we’re not getting that. It’s gotten to the point that it’s ridiculous and pathetic.”

Council, understanding Robinson and Williams would be upset, withheld the money on principle. It must have a way to control its own budget, especially in a recession.

“When we adopted this policy, we said we were going to spend $30,000 and split it equally,” councilman Buddy Brand said. “If you are going to go over your amount, you have to get it approved beforehand. We might as well throw this budget out the window if we’re not going to abide by it.”

Brand explained he was voting against the payment because it broke the budget, not because it was Williams asking for the exception. And Councilman Steve Powers said he never votes for or against something because it’s from either District 1 or District 2, the predominantly black sections of Florence.

“Contrary to (Robinson’s) belief, everything up here is not against District 1 and District 2,” Powers said, looking at Robinson, “except sometimes I think you believe that.”

Robinson shot back, “It is.”

Powers responded, “Well, it isn’t.”

Robinson added, “The record will show...” before he was cut off by Wukela.

For the record, Powers voted to reimburse Williams, but he made a good point. The embarrassing scene would have been avoided if Williams would have sought prior approval and provided a report on the trip.

Williams and Robinson have been effective at lobbying powerbrokers in Washington for money. But they have to follow the rules.

— Unsigned editorials represent the views of this newspaper: Editorial Board members are Mark Laskowski (regional publisher), James Bennett (regional editor), Sam Bundy (sports editor), Kimberly Ginfrida (news editor), David Johnson (regional circulation director), Charles Tomlinson (Lake City News & Post editor), and Jackie Torok (metro editor).