A Florida chief inspector general report on travel expenses at the state's last-resort insurer concludes that such expenses incurred by Citizens' board, management and employees — while compliant with written policies — are "excessive by state standards," and recommends that Citizens be required to follow state-travel laws.
The report was undertaken at the request of Governor Rick Scott after the Miami Herald published an article on Aug. 25, 2012 charging that "executives at the state-run company have been living large at the same time they are asking hard-pressed Florida property owners to pay more for insurance." The articles cited examples of executives staying in luxury hotels, eating at expensive restaurants, and purportedly violating company policy by using corporate credit cards for personal expenses and to purchase alcoholic beverages.
The inspector general calls Citizens' travel expense policy "insufficient," stating that two sets of policies — one enacted in 2005 for employees and one enacted in 2006 for board members and senior management — "improperly delegate the responsibility for controlling expenditures and maintaining adherence to the policy to the individual rather than to the individual and management."
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