Fort Worth City Council members committed to better monitor their spending, instructing city staff to hold them accountable to an uncertain annual budget for city-related travel.
The council discussed how to regulate travel on the taxpayer’s dime during a work session meeting Nov. 4. The 30-minute discussion grew tense as council members demanded clarity on spending limits from city management and questioned the necessity of various excursions outside of the city.
City Manager Jay Chapa, who oversees Fort Worth’s $3 billion budget, initially said he wasn’t sure how much is allotted to each of the council members for travel. As the discussion went on, he said the current travel budget is an average of the spending reported in past years, meaning each council member gets roughly $16,000 per year for trips…