Eckstrom Releases State Travel Report for Fiscal 2014

Oct. 31, 2014
For Immediate Release

Columbia, S.C. – S.C. Comptroller Richard Eckstrom has released the latest State Travel Report giving details of amounts spent on travel by every state agency for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2014. Eckstrom emphasizes that reporting this information to citizens is an important part of his financial transparency initiative. 

The State Travel Report includes all travel-related expenditures – including payments of conference registration fees – for all agencies that received money in the state’s 2014 budget. The report separately identifies in-state from out-of-state travel for each agency. 

In an easy-to-follow format, the report discloses each agency’s total travel spending, ranking them from highest to lowest. It also shows the top 25 travelers in each agency ranked by the amount each traveler spent. 

Eckstrom says the travel report serves a valuable purpose by informing the public and state leaders about an area of government spending that needs to be watched closely to ensure that travel is necessary and meets a valid public purpose. 

“Even with all of the new ways we have to communicate today, phone calls, email and the Internet still can’t meet all of the needs for information-sharing among government officials and employees, which sometimes makes travel necessary,” Eckstrom says. “But this is an area where agencies will serve the best interests of taxpayers by limiting travel to only the essentials. Every agency needs to consider the return it gets from investing in travel.” 

The report can be downloaded from the Comptroller General’s Office website (http://www.cg.sc.gov/publicationsandreports/Pages/travelreports.aspx). Travel reports dating back to fiscal 2004 are available at that link. 

For more information please contact Eric Ward, public information director, at 803-734-2538; 803-206-6293 or eward@cg.sc.gov.

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