Board's jet-set habits soar past $800,000

Auditors have questioned the South Florida Water Management District's frequent flights.

FORT LAUDERDALE - On the taxpayers' dime, board members of the South Florida Water Management District used its aircraft to attend the governor's inauguration, make a 25-mile trip for a work barbecue, and partake in a celebration of women in history, according to a newspaper investigation.

Over a three-year period ending in September 2007, board members flew almost 600 times at a price of more than $800,000 in fuel, insurance, hangar space, and maintenance, among other costs, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found.

Board members defended their actions, saying the transportation was justified because board members volunteer their time.

"Take it out of my salary," board member Nicolas J. Gutierrez Jr. said when asked about the cost of his flights from Miami to West Palm Beach for meetings. Gutierrez does not receive pay for his work on the board.

Former board member Miya Burt-Stewart added that the flights are a perk that can attract top talent to serve on the board.

"You have to give to get," she said.

But auditors have in the past questioned the agency's use of its aircraft - a twin-engine plane and three helicopters.

None of the state's other four water management districts own aircraft or fly officials to their meetings. The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and State University System - agencies that have similarly large missions and territories - also do not fly their board members on government aircraft.

The Sun-Sentinel report found that the vast majority of the agency's helicopter flights carried scientists, technicians and researchers to various destinations for testing, repairs and sampling. The airplane flights mostly carried board members, administrators and top employees to meetings with state regulators and policymakers in Tallahassee, officials at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Jacksonville, as well as board meetings.

[Last modified January 14, 2008, 00:26:23]