Struiksma Gives $815 Back to City for Trips

San Diego acting Mayor Ed Struiksma this week reimbursed the city more than $800 for questionable expenses he claimed on 1984 business trips to the East Coast and San Antonio.

On Tuesday, Struiksma sent a check for $815.70 to City Auditor Ed Ryan, who requested the repayment because Struiksma has been unable to provide receipts for the expenses.

“With the city’s acceptance of this check, I will consider this matter closed,” Struiksma wrote to Ryan in a memo that accompanied the check.

Questions about Struiksma’s city expense forms forced him from the mayoral primary race in late January when the San Diego County district attorney’s office announced that it would investigate the matter to see if criminal prosecution was warranted.

The investigation followed newspaper stories that quoted Jan Anton, a Centre City Development Corp. board member, as saying he paid for a dinner on Oct. 16, 1984, in New York that Struiksma subsequently billed to the city for $65. Both men were en route to Boston to attend an Urban Land Institute meeting.

Struiksma admitted he falsified the expense form but blamed the city auditor’s office for the mistake. He said he had lost his receipts, and was advised by someone on Ryan’s staff in 1985 to simply fill in the numbers on his expense form to justify a $600 advance for the trip. Struiksma maintained that Ryan’s office declined his offer of reimbursement at the time.

Earlier this month, the district attorney announced that there was insufficient evidence to justify criminal charges stemming from that transaction and others. But he cited “irregularities” and advised Ryan to press for additional documentation or reimbursement.

On May 13, Ryan sent a memo to Struiksma doing just that. His request covered three instances:

- The October, 1984, trip to Boston and New York. Ryan suggested that, if Struiksma could not provide additional documentation, the acting mayor could pay for $213.06 in meals that were erroneously listed on the city expense form. “While you have consistently maintained that you spent the money on city business, this portion of the claim was found to be incorrect,” Ryan wrote.

As another option, the auditor suggested Struiksma might pay the entire $612.50 he put on the form for “out-of-pocket” expenses, an amount that covered his cash advance. “Even though receipts were not required, the numbers on the form may not reflect what actually transpired,” Ryan wrote.

- A May, 1984, trip to an Urban Land Institute in San Antonio. The district attorney found that Struiksma could not account for how he spent an advance of $200, an amount Ryan suggested be reimburse to the city.

- An August, 1984, trip to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, as a representative of the San Diego Assn. of Governments. The district attorney found that Struiksma used his city credit card to pay for lodging and return air fare for himself, his wife and one of his children. Struiksma reimbursed the city for the amount, but Ryan asked him to pay $3.20 in credit card interest charges resulting from the Idaho transactions.

Struiksma wrote that he opted to pay the “maximum amount” requested by Ryan “because my choice will both put an end to this situation once and for all, and because my choice ‘makes good’ on my year-old offer to reimburse the city. An offer, I might add, that you have been exceedingly hesitant to accept because, as you stated to me, it was apparent that I had incurred expenses.”

Struiksma declined further comment Friday.

When asked if Struiksma’s payment closed the book on the questionable expenses, Ryan said: “Yes . . . Ed paid as I requested it. Councilman Struiksma paid as I requested it.”