TRAVEL SPENDING BALLOONS NEW ESTIMATE PUSHES COUNTY BILL EVEN HIGHER.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Los Angeles County employees, already under fire for paying up to five times the going rate for airline tickets, actually spent $1.9 million more on travel-related expenses than originally estimated, a new report shows.

The county's top administrator said efforts to find a new travel agent produced few immediate alternatives and recommended employees take steps - using advance-purchase tickets, finding cheaper rates online - to save taxpayer dollars.

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers President Jon Coupal called the new bill for tickets, hotels, car rentals and other expenses outrageous.

``If these public officials continue to spend five times as much for travel as needed, then the next ticket they should buy is a one-way ticket to wherever they want and not return,'' Coupal said.

Auditors discovered the county spent $4.9 million in fiscal year 1999-00, more than the $3 million a year they had originally estimated the county's 84,000 employees spend in travel expenses.

The auditor-controller's report comes after the Board of Supervisors in February called for review, alarmed that county employees sometimes pay as much as five times the going rate for airline tickets.

In a memo sent to the board last week, county Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen said efforts to find a new travel service - as supervisors wanted - produced only two responses from 20 agencies.

Janssen recommended the county instead extend for another six months the contract with American Express One, which expired 18 months ago and continues to be renewed monthly.

In the next two months, the auditor-controller will again seek other travel agencies for the contract.

When the American Express One contract came up for renewal last month, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said the county was ``being ripped off,'' noting that he paid $1,800 for a ticket to Washington, D.C., that he could have got from his own travel agent for $400.

American Express One officials said county employees can reduce their costs by making reservations well in advance and choosing other, less expensive travel options.

Janssen said only two agencies responded to the county's request for proposals in part because of the small profit margin derived from the exclusive sale of airline tickets.

``To be successful, travel agencies are highly dependent on providing ancillary services such as tour packages, travel management consulting services and other services where a commission is charged,'' he wrote.

The county's current contract requires the dedication of four travel agents to handle the volume of calls received each day, and smaller travel agencies could not handle that volume, he wrote.

``American Express One was deemed the most qualified and is presently providing these services on a month-to-month basis,'' Janssen wrote.

The supervisors and their staffs regularly travel to conferences and meetings around the country. Most of the trips are to Sacramento; Washington, D.C.; and Palm Springs, but some are to conferences in New York City, St. Louis, Portland, Ore., and Scottsdale, Ariz.

One supervisor's employee took a trip last August to Maui, Hawaii, for a National Beach Preservation Conference, travel records show.

The county will pay air fare, up to $159.25 a night for lodging, $52.75 for meals and $55.75 for incidentals. The county pays $11 a day for incidentals in Sacramento.

Auditors say about 80 percent of the county's travel needs are handled by American Express One and the county purchases about 6,000 tickets a year.

A Daily News review of 454 American Express One tickets purchased in January 2000 showed 46 cost more than $1,000, 18 cost more than $1,500 and 12 cost more than $2,000.

The most expensive ticket cost $2,901.20 and involved a flight from from Moscow to Zurich to Los Angeles and back to Zurich and Moscow.

One of the agencies with the highest travel expenses is the Department of Children and Family Services, which spent $805,067 for travel in 1999-00.

This included $644,792 in airline tickets for court-ordered transportation of children and $45,270 in airline tickets for administrative travel.

Also, the department spent $126,393 for hotels, $27,096 for car rentals and $115,005 for meals, taxis, gas, parking and other expenses.

Part of the reason why some tickets cost so much is that to receive discount fares, many airlines require reservations to be made seven, 14 or 21 days in advance. Also, flexible itineraries can affect fares.

An inquiry into ticket fares to Washington, D.C., revealed prices ranging from $400 to $2,100 for the same day of departure, Janssen wrote.

``The highest price was for a nonstop flight, a common selection made by county travelers going to Washington, D.C.,'' he wrote. ``The lower fares required one or more stops and a Saturday stay before returning. The lower fares also required advanced ticketing.''

Recent reports on industry air fares show an average ticket price for a domestic flight is $570. A review of county records booked through American Express One show an average price of $515, Janssen wrote.

American Express One spokeswoman Christine Levite said the refundability issue is the biggest factor involving the high-priced tickets.

``We recommend there be a tight policy affecting refundability because that can drastically affect the fare, as does advance purchase,'' she said Friday.

After the Daily News story in February, American Express One reviewed two tickets county employees purchased for $2,111 and $2,109 to Washington, D.C., and found the employees chose the highest-priced tickets.

``We went back into our system to look at the conversation relating to those tickets and realized the traveler chose to get the ticket that was higher priced but had maximum flexibility,'' she said.