Meals and Incidental Expenses

The County will not issue the per diem meal allowance for same day trips.

Employees will be provided a $39.00 per diem allowance for meals and incidentals for employees in overnight travel status, for each night the status is incurred. Do not charge meals on the County p-card.

The per diem allowance of $39.00 covers meals and incidental expenses. Incidental expenses are defined in the federal travel regulations as "fees and tips given to porters, baggage carriers, bellhops, hotel maids, stewards or stewardesses and others on ships, and hotel servants in foreign countries; transportation between places of lodging or business and places where meals are taken, if suitable meals can be obtained at the temporary duty site; and the mailing costs associated with filing travel vouchers and payment of employer sponsored charge card billings". Employees should file for reimbursement when a trip is completed. The use of procurement cards has eliminated the need for travel advances, thus they are no longer available to employees.

For employees in overnight travel status, the day you depart and the day you return, the per diem allowance will be reduced to 75% of the normal amount. Therefore, instead of receiving $39.00 for these days, you will receive $29.25.

You may be eligible for a higher per diem allowance depending upon the city to which you are traveling. Check the per diem rates to see if the city you are traveling to is listed. If it is, print a copy of the page that details the daily rate for that city to attach to your travel expense reimbursement report and you will be reimbursed at the higher rate.

The County will not require any receipts under the per diem allowance method. With Department Head approval, additional reimbursement can be requested for a particular day(s), however, receipts for all meals in the day(s) must be supplied. The IRS does not allow you to use per diem allowance on some meals and actual reimbursement on other meals during the same day.

Any expenses associated with the purchase of alcoholic beverages are not reimbursable.

The County provides a calling card that can be obtained through Telecommunications in the Information Services department if a substantial amount of business calls are expected during the travel.