Advertisement Baltimore City Council members' travel increases on taxpayers' dime City Councilwoman Helen Holton takes 2 trips to Hawaii Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Some Baltimore City Council members like to travel, and it's all at the expense of the taxpayer.Mobile users tap here to watch videoThe WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team has learned the council's travel expenses have grown in the past few years.Nearly every week, the city's top officials rubberstamp travel requests without blinking an eye, so they apparently saw no problem with the requests of one council member in particular to travel to Hawaii twice in five months.The median income in Helen Holton's City Council district in west Baltimore is half the state average and 50 percent of the children fall below the poverty line. Travel to faraway places for Holton's constituents likely seems a faraway possibility, but twice in five months, Holton enjoyed trips to Hawaii, not on her dime, but the taxpayers'.The mayor and other city officials who sit on Baltimore's Board of Estimates have approved the Hawaii trips, no questions asked.In December, Holton's destination was a luxury resort in Maui for a meeting of the National Association of Counties, for which she is a member of the board. According to her expense report, airfare was $1,070 and her hotel stay was $676. The total bill for the trip, including meals and taxes was $2,157.This week, Holton is returning to Hawaii for another meeting of the same organization, even though the meeting this time is specifically for states in the western part of the country.The meeting is being held at a luxury resort on the island of Kauai. The total cost of this trip is $3,070.Holton's Hawaii trips add to her distinction as Baltimore's most-traveled City Council member. Since 2010, taxpayers have spent $36,811 to send Holton to conferences all over the country -- in Palm Beach, Florida; New Orleans; San Diego; and Santa Fe, New Mexico -- all in the name of City Council business.In the past five years, the amount of money spent for Baltimore City Council members to travel and the number of trips they have taken has soared.In 2010, taxpayers paid for seven trips for City Council members at a total cost of $9,310.68. In 2014, City Council members took 27 taxpayer-funded trips at a total cost of $42,748.In February, Hosea Chew, the council staff member who handles the City Council's expenses, sent Holton's staff an email, requesting more documentation for one of Holton's trips."You should be a pro at these by now," he wrote. "Helen took nine trips in 2013, six trips (last year), and (is) working on the second trip for 2015."Holton has not responded to the 11 News I-Team's attempts by person, by email and by phone to ask questions.According to her expense documents, Holton gets the frequent flyer miles earned with all her travel.