Tamarac trips scrutinized

Government watchdog seeks details on commission’s travel and spending

Broward County’s top government watchdog is taking a look at Tamarac commissioners’ travel and spending, city records show.

The query comes after a Sun Sentinel news article in July de- how Tamarac elected officials’ growing travel itinerary was unrivaled by other cities in South Florida.

The four Tamarac city commissioners and its mayor took dozens of trips over the past fiscal year across Florida and beyond.

The Broward Office of the Inspector General has asked the city for copies of all the travel requests and itineraries for each city commissioner, as well as their car rental, hotel and airline reservations, and requests for advance funds, records show.

John W. Scott, Broward’s inspector general, declined to comment about his office’s public records request, saying the office does not “confirm or deny” queries.

The commissioners’ travel drew attention this past sumtailed mer from city administrators, who proposed raising the budget after seeing travel costs mount to more than triple what was originally planned.

The city originally had expected the costs to reach $80,000.

But the cost ultimately was lowered to $64,000 because three trips were canceled for illness, a flight delay and Hurricane Irma, city officials said.