Fort Worth council spent $167K on journey for metropolis enterprise, data present

Fort Worth City Council members spent greater than $167,000 on taxpayer-funded journey in lower than two years, in response to expense studies obtained by the Fort Worth Report. 

The cumulative spending accounted for the journey of Mayor Mattie Parker and 10 sitting council members, plus two council members who left workplace this 12 months. 

In interviews and statements to the Fort Worth Report, council members emphasised how touring to different cities, states and nations to attend governmental conferences or be part of delegations enhances their capacity to serve Fort Worth’s 1 million-and-counting residents. 

“Travel is necessary. I think (anywhere we travel) is necessary to the city of Fort Worth, especially if it’s going to help move the city forward,” council member Chris Nettles mentioned. “But it’s just like anything — you’ve got to eat, but if you eat too much, it’s not good for your body.” 

The council receives “valuable exposure to best practices, fresh ideas, and proven solutions to the challenges facing our city” by touring to conferences, legislative summits and different applications, council member Alan Blaylock mentioned in a written assertion.

“All travel is carefully reviewed to ensure the responsible use of taxpayer funds,” he wrote. 

In September, metropolis officers mentioned they couldn’t launch public info detailing how a lot every council member spent on city-funded journey due to discrepancies in how bills have been tracked. Officials vowed to reconcile all journey spending data by way of a line-by-line assessment of expenditures relationship again to 2021. 

Council members interviewed by the Fort Worth Report mentioned they aren’t positive what the council’s journey spending finances is, as metropolis employees are tasked with reviewing, approving and reserving journey. 

Sana Syed, town’s interim chief communications officer, declined to element how journeys are vetted and accredited or to share every council district’s allotted journey finances.

The disclosure of monitoring discrepancies got here after the Fort Worth Report obtained paperwork detailing council journey for 2022 and 2023 and filed an open data request to entry comparable paperwork for subsequent years. 

Under Texas regulation, the general public has the suitable to entry and examine authorities data by requesting info from such businesses. Government entities are legally required to launch the requested info inside 10 enterprise days however could request permission from the Texas legal professional normal’s workplace to withhold info deemed exempt underneath the regulation. 

City employees launched 2024-2025 expense data to the Fort Worth Report on Oct. 7. 

Syed declined to touch upon the method for reconciling discrepancies or to share how town will monitor council journey spending transferring ahead.

“No one from the city is available for further comment on this,” Syed wrote by way of e-mail.

Documents reviewed by the Fort Worth Report final month — which metropolis officers emphasised may very well be inaccurate due to inconsistent recordkeeping — confirmed council members spent about $145,000 on journey from October 2021 to September 2023.

That brings the cumulative journey spending from October 2021 to August 2025 to about $312,000. 

The Fort Worth Report contacted the mayor and council members for touch upon their journey spending and the way the journeys benefited their roles as elected officers. Council members Charlie Lauersdorf and Macy Hill, in addition to former council members Gyna Bivens and Jared Williams, didn’t return requests for remark. 

Council member Mia Hall wrote in a press release that as a brand new council member, her journey has helped her be taught from elected officers of different cities going through challenges much like Fort Worth’s. 

“City-funded travel supports responsible and cost-conscious professional development for elected leaders, ensuring they bring valuable resources and ideas back to the community,” Hall wrote. 

Council members could search reimbursement for city-related journey by reporting expense statements and itemized receipts, in response to town’s administrative rules. Those reimbursements have to be accredited by town’s chief of employees or chief communications officer. In their absence, town supervisor or a licensed assistant metropolis supervisor could give approval. 

“Travel and expenditure accounts are open to the public and must be able to sustain the test of public review,” the rules coverage states. “Economy, prudence and necessity are of primary concern, when planning and paying for travel and non-travel related out-of-pocket expenditures. The use of city funds to accommodate personal comfort, convenience and taste should be minimized.” 

Council member Carlos Flores wrote in a press release that his journey spending adopted metropolis insurance policies. 

Trump inauguration, worldwide visits detailed in council journey 

Council member Michael Crain spent the best greenback quantity in every of the previous two years reviewed, reporting about $56,000 in journey, in response to the brand new data launched. That accounts for about one-third of the entire spending among the many council and about $30,000 greater than the subsequent highest spender. 

Crain mentioned in a written assertion that he’s dedicated to making sure town stays “at the forefront of best practices” by collaborating in nationwide conferences, legislative summits, Fort Worth Sister Cities exchanges {and professional} improvement. 

Sister cities are municipalities that enter into citizen-driven, diplomatic, cross-country relationships to share cultures, host one another and construct a worldwide relationship, in response to this system’s web site.

“I take my stewardship of taxpayer dollars seriously, and as such, every trip is carefully vetted and approved by the city manager and chief of staff,” wrote Crain, who represents elements of west and southwest Fort Worth. “This investment has directly enhanced my ability to serve our residents and advance key city priorities as I continue to advocate for District 3 and Fort Worth.”

His journey expenditures included $11,570 to attend Harvard Kennedy School’s five-day Leadership in Crises program in Cambridge, Massachusetts; about $5,300 on airfare for an eight-day journey to Tokyo; and practically $3,000 for a Sister Cities journey to Indonesia. 

Crain additionally reported spending about $1,500 for a visit to Washington, D.C., to attend President Donald Trump’s inauguration. 

Crain declined to reply questions on how these journeys enhanced his capacity to serve Fort Worth residents or why his journey expenditures outpaced what colleagues spent. 

Council member Jeanette Martinez was the second-highest spender, reporting nearly $26,000 in journey bills throughout that two-year time-frame. These have been the primary city-related journey bills she reported since taking workplace in June 2023 to signify elements of east Fort Worth. 

Martinez’s journey included a roughly $6,500 journey to Bandung, Indonesia, as a part of a Sister Cities delegation this 12 months. In 2024, she reported about $2,800 in expenditures to attend the National Association of Latino Elected Officials in Las Vegas, and $2,700 to attend a National League of Cities convention in Washington, D.C.

During her Indonesia journey, Martinez realized how that nation makes use of sponsored housing to cut back homelessness and public transit to assist with its congestion, that are persistent points in Fort Worth, she mentioned. Also throughout her travels, she mentioned she’s realized about student-led advisory our bodies to metropolis councils, an initiative she’s at the moment working to implement with highschool college students in her district. 

“I know that some people are critical (of council travel), but I have definitely learned a lot and have been able to implement some of those ideas in District 11,” Martinez mentioned.

She added that a few of her journey was paid for by way of grants, which might not be mirrored within the expense studies town launched to the Fort Worth Report. The paperwork word reimbursements for some council members’ expenditures however others aren’t detailed. 

For instance, town data present council member Elizabeth Beck paid $3,000 for a Sister Cities journey to Italy — an expense she mentioned was reimbursed to town as a result of she wasn’t capable of make the journey. The council member, who represents downtown and the Near Southside, reported $13,000 in expenditures over the 2 years, which incorporates the journey she didn’t take. 

Syed, town spokesperson, declined to reply questions in regards to the discrepancies. 

Lauersdorf and Hill, who took workplace in mid-2023, haven’t reported any journey spending throughout their tenure on the council. 

The third-highest spender was Nettles, who represents southeast Fort Worth and the Historic Southside. He reported about $18,000 in journey to attend conferences throughout the United States, such because the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual legislative convention in Washington, D.C., final month. That journey price about $2,400. 

In 2024-2025, the mayor reported spending about $10,000. Her highest expense was $1,596 for “ground transportation” whereas in D.C. this 12 months, however paperwork didn’t specify the explanation for the journey. She additionally spent simply over $1,000 in expenditures to journey to Washington, D.C., for the Yale Mayors College and Yale School of Management’s CEO Caucus. 

Parker reported attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2024 and 2025, with attendance costing $1,500 every time. 

“From testifying on important Fort Worth issues at the State Capitol to attending U.S. Conference of Mayors meetings, I take traveling on city expenses incredibly seriously and ensure every trip I do take is necessary to serve in my role as mayor to the best of my ability,” Parker mentioned in a written assertion. 

Of the council members who reported spending, the bottom spender was Deborah Peoples, who was elected this 12 months to signify the vast majority of east Fort Worth. So far in workplace, she spent $245 to attend the Texas Municipal League’s orientation for newly elected metropolis officers in Waco and $660 to register for the National League of Cities’ annual convention in Salt Lake City subsequent month. 

“I make decisions with the city’s money like I do my own money — I try to spend it well and try to get things out of it,” Peoples mentioned. 

Council commits to transparency, accountability in journey spending

Moving ahead, administrative metropolis employees will assessment council journey bills to make sure correct data and compliance with metropolis insurance policies, in response to a Sept. 26 e-mail from senior administrative assistant Joanna Hudspeth to council members and their employees. 

Hudspeth wrote that town’s monetary administration division would prepare staffers on new insurance policies and procedures associated to budgets, journey and buying to “ensure everyone is on the same page moving forward,” in response to a duplicate of the e-mail reviewed by the Fort Worth Report. 

Beck, Martinez, Nettles and Peoples mentioned they weren’t aware about the main points of employees’s reconciliation course of, however they’re assured that employees exercised diligence in reviewing spending. 

Beck needs the council to implement insurance policies that guarantee larger “transparency and accountability” in how they spend public {dollars}. For instance, she’s contemplating a proposal to require council members to reveal publicly throughout their conferences every journey they’ve taken. 

To Peoples, “all politics are kitchen table politics,” which means native or nationwide elected officers are coping with lots of the similar sensible points that residents face, corresponding to managing their family with a accountable finances. She mentioned she’s dedicated to frugality with spending public funds on metropolis journey, and she or he hopes her colleagues are as effectively. 

“Clearly, when people elect us, they expect us to be good stewards of their tax dollars, and that’s it,” Peoples mentioned. 

Cecilia Lenzen is a authorities accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at [email protected]. 

At the Fort Worth Report, information selections are made independently of our board members and monetary supporters. Read extra about our editorial independence coverage right here.

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