Council Travel Allowance Cut $1,500

In what one of its members described as a goodwill gesture, the Torrance City Council on Tuesday voted to cut $1,500 this year from each council member’s travel allowance.

Council member Dee Hardison, who authored the proposal, acknowledged that the resulting savings for the city will be relatively small. But she said the action nonetheless “sends a public message that the council is doing its part” during a lean economic year.

“I think there’s some value if this council . . . does not take our full amount of our travel reimbursement,” Hardison told the council.

Currently, each council member is reimbursed up to $3,000 in travel expenses while on city business and an additional $2,000 for travel while on redevelopment agency business.

Torrance officials said the exact amount that each council member was reimbursed during the fiscal year that ended June 30 was not immediately available.

Besides the travel allowance, the mayor can also be reimbursed up to $4,200 annually in so-called “routine, local” expenses while on city business, and council members can receive up to $3,000 annually to offset such charges. The mayor and council members are also given $5,352 a year in car allowances.