Business Office :: Travel Reimbursement Guidelines

The following are guidelines that Georgetown ISD follows to determine travel reimbursement for employees. All reimbursement requests must be presented to the Business Office no later than 30 days following the last day of travel. These allowances are maximums, but as stated below, campuses or departments can choose to reimburse for lesser amounts due to budget constraints, etc. So before you travel, please make sure to confirm any limitations on travel reimbursements with your campus/department leaders.

Meals

Employees are reimbursed for meals up to $36 per day (receipts required). If an employee is away from GISD for a portion of the day rather than the entire day, we break that $30 down as follows:

Breakfast $9, lunch $12, dinner $15.

Employees can request a check in advance of traveling for meals. When the employee returns from the trip, they need to give us itemized receipts to show their expenses, and at that time we will compare what they spent to what they were advanced. Then we will either pay the employee any allowable difference, or will collect any unspent portions of the advance. All receipts are due in the Business Office no later than 30 days following the last day of travel.

Mileage

Employees driving their personal vehicles to seminars etc may be reimbursed at a rate up to 58.5 cents per mile multiplied by the official state mileage between Georgetown and the city they travel to. In the event that an employee travels from their home without starting at GISD that first morning, they will be reimbursed for the lesser mileage between their home or GISD and their destination.

The State comptroller has a web site to determine official State mileage:

http://window.state.tx.us/comptrol/texastra.html

Hotels

Employees will be reimbursed up to $85 per night for hotels (receipts required). GISD employees are not subject to State tax, but they should bring a copy of the State tax exemption form with them to each hotel (form is available from the Business Office). Employees are subject to any local hotel taxes, so its important to make sure of the total bill before you travel. Any amounts above $85 per day are expected to be paid by the GISD employee that does the traveling.

GISD employees that share a room are allowed to each count the $85 towards their share (so two could stay in a hotel room with a total cost including taxes of $160, and GISD would pay that full $170 for the hotel room per night).

GISD can send checks in advance of the travel to the hotel, or can write a check to the hotel that the employee can take with them on their trip. It's important to make sure to contact A/P staff in advance of needing these checks, so please call them to confirm the timing of any checks requested in advance.

Air Fare

Employees are reimbursed for actual cost of air travel while on District business. Air travel needs to be pre-approved by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance or the Superintendent (receipts required).

Employees can request checks in advance to be mailed to the airline company for this travel, or to take with them on their trip. District employees are encouraged to book any airfares through Lovoi Travel, a local travel agent that GISD uses. Lovoi will bill the District for any travel costs incurred, so this way no check needs to be requested in advance.

Tips, Parking Fees, Other expenses

Employees will be reimbursed for reasonable costs associated with travel, such as parking fees, tips (must be reasonable), and other expenses incurred (receipts required).

Out of State travel

All out of State travel must be pre-approved by the Superintendent. The State of Texas has special reimbursement rates for other cities in other states:

http://www.window.state.tx.us/fm/travel/out_of_state/mealrates.htm

If the employee travels to a city in a State that is not listed, then they are reimbursed at the average reimbursement rates for food and lodging for that State.

Please note: The limits above are State limits and no matter where the funds come from to pay for these reimbursements, they cannot exceed the above limits in total.


For more information about GISD's travel reimbursement guidelines, contact:

David McLaughlin
Assistant Superintendent of Finance
Georgetown Independent School District
603 Lakeway Drive, Georgetown, TX 78626
Phone: (512) 943-5009 
Email: mclaughlind@georgetownisd.org