Of the 130 trips the plane logged for Clemson between January and July, it had no passengers on 65 of them as it traveled from one location to another, often from Columbia to Clemson, to pick up passengers, the records show.
Frequent flyers for Clemson include athletics director Dan Radakovich, who made trips to Charleston and to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, with his wife, Marcia, President Jim Clements, football coach Dabo Swinney and other athletics department employees and academic administrators.
Most of the flights were in-state, but the log includes trips to destinations such as Cincinnati, Tuscaloosa, Tampa and Louisville.
Clemson spokeswoman Cathy Sams said use of the university plane was deemed to be the most cost effective mode of travel for busy university officials.
“Air travel allows us to minimize travel time and maximize productivity of administrators who have very demanding schedules,” she said. “Because of our location, a meeting in Columbia can consume an entire day with car travel.”
There were no trips logged by the University of South Carolina or any other institution of higher education during the period.
According to Greenville News analysis of the flight logs, Clemson spent $133,140 on use of the state plane between Jan. 1 and the end of October this year.
During the same time period, Gov. Nikki Haley’s office spent $75,070, and the Department of Commerce spent $49,635, records show.
The only other users that hit five figures were the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, the state Ports Authority, the Aeronautics Commission and state Rep. John King.
Unlike the governor, legislators and most state agencies who list details for the purpose of their trips on flight manifests, Clemson officials give the reason for all their flights only as “Official Clemson University business.”
Sams said that’s how the Aeronautics Commission requested the logs be filled out.
Clemson hasn’t always been a big user of the state plane.
In a search of Aeronautics Commission records going back to 2006, Clemson’s first logged trips were in October 2011, with trips by assistant football coaches Jeff Scott and Marion Hobby to Jacksonville and Tampa, Florida and then-President Jim Barker making a trip to Charleston with then-vice president John Kelly.
Prior to February 2011, Clemson owned two airplanes, one purchased with private funds by the athletic department and an older model generally used for other university official travel, Sams said.
“In 2011, after a thorough cost analysis, a decision was made to sell the older plane rather than incur substantial costs for refurbishing or replacing it,” she said. “Instead, the university would charter planes when the athletic plane was not available or was down for maintenance.”
Clemson and other state agencies have been encouraged to use state airplanes to help the state recover the cost of its fleet, Sams said. The state charges agencies such as Clemson a set rate for usage of the state plane. Clemson pays this charge to the state each time it uses the state plane, she said.
The flight logs indicate “user reimbursed.”
The cost for trips by academic officials are reimbursed by the academic departments, which may include use of public funds for official university business, Sams said.
“No state appropriated funds are used for travel, as they are all allocated for faculty salaries,” she said. “Fundraising trips are paid for with private funds, and all athletics trips are funded through revenues generated by the department.”
Between 2006 and 2011, few state agencies used the plane, according to the records. Most of the flights were logged by the governor, the Department of Commerce and various legislators.
The Medical University of South Carolina made use of the plane during that period but has not in the past few years.
Wives of high profile university employees such as Clements and Swinney sometimes fly in the state plane for university functions, Sams said.
“Mrs. Clements is frequently asked to help host official out-of-town events and fundraising activities,” she said. “Because of family responsibilities such as having a teenage child living at home, and scheduling, she occasionally must travel separately. These flights are handled according to board-approved policies.
“Mrs. Swinney also is asked to participate in alumni and fundraising activities as well as official athletics events," Sams said. "At times spouse participation is requested by donors, the ACC or post-season game event managers.”
Clemson logged no trips on the state plane in October, after the athletics department bought a new plane, Sams said.
“Now that the athletic department has purchased a second plane, we expect our usage of state planes to decline,” she said.
Much of the travel logged by Clements has been related to the university’s $1 billion capital campaign, The Will to Lead, Sams said.
“President and Mrs. Clements are heavily involved in fundraising activities, and we have had back-to-back record years for private giving since his arrival,” she said. Clements became president at the end of 2013.
Clements also has responsibilities nationally in several higher education organizations, including as chairman of the board for the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, Sams said.
He is also a member of the executive board of the American Council on Education, co-chair of the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship and is a member of the Business Higher Education Forum and the Council on Competitiveness, she said.
“These appointments have helped raise Clemson’s national profile and opened doors for external funding,” she said.
The university has policies intended to assure that flights are made for business purposes only, Sams said.
The policy says university or state aircraft is justified “when the business of the University cannot be conducted as well as, or more economically, through the use of regularly scheduled commercial aircraft. Economic justification includes not only the cost of the air travel but also opportunity costs and lost productivity costs.”
Sams said representatives from the state Aeronautics Commission approached Clemson officials in the spring of 2011 about using their planes when the university needed to outsource flights, “as that would help them recoup the cost of the planes.”
- Source: http://www.greenvilleonline.com
No comments:
Post a Comment