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Travel Web site aids state workers

The state has developed a new Web site to help its employees get business travel deals in response to a legislative audit that concluded agencies were spending too much money, officials said Tuesday.

The site links state employees to airlines and discount travel sites and lists ways they can save money on tickets and other business trip expenses.

By SARAH COOKE – Associated Press Writer

http://helenair.com/articles/2004/06/23/montana/a06062304_03.txt

It was developed through the Department of Administration on the official State of Montana Web site at http://www.discoveringmontana.com, Sheryl Olson, deputy administrator of the agency’s General Services Division, told the Legislative Audit Committee.

‘‘This is all information right from the airlines on how to get better deals,” she said.

Olson did not know how many state employees had used the site yet. It became active shortly after the release in December of an audit critical of travel spending by state agencies.

Agencies have also been ordered to use the state credit card for all travel arrangements in response to the audit.

Putting tickets on the credit card results in lower administrative costs for processing and paying bills and makes it easier for management to track purchases, Olson said.

The audit said state government spends an average of $44 more per round-trip plane ticket than the average cost of all flights originating in Montana.

The difference added about $331,000 to state travel expenses during the year that ended in mid-2002, the report stated.

Despite some concerns about ambiguity, the committee unanimously approved recommending a measure to the Legislature that would give the Department of Administration the authority to develop procedures for state agencies to use when booking flights.

Steve Bender, the department’s acting director, worried the legislation created a state travel agency within the department and that costs associated with that would offset any benefits.

Committee member Rep. Dee Brown, R-Hungry Horse, said one person, rather than a new state agency, could easily handle the travel coordination duties given Montana’s restricted flight options.

‘‘We don’t need the paperwork, we don’t need the offices and we don’t need the product,” she said.

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