Mecklenburg County reveals final cost for delegation to Germany trip. How much was spent?
Mecklenburg County paid almost $11,000 to send a county commissioner and staff member to Germany for an economic development trip that overlapped with a Carolina Panthers game in Munich.
The county paid $10,866.60 for its two-person delegation of County Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell and economic development director Roger Johnson, according to expense reports obtained by The Charlotte Observer via a public records request.
That’s slightly less than the estimated cost for the trip of $12,000 previously provided by the county.
The City of Charlotte paid nearly $64,500 to send the majority of the City Council and six city staff members on the same trip. The trip also included representatives from the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance and Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority.
The groups touted the trip as an opportunity to recruit and retain German businesses with a presence in the Charlotte area. More than 200 German companies have nearly 20,000 employees in the Charlotte area, the CLT Alliance said in a report released ahead of the trip, the most of any foreign country.
Rodriguez-McDowell, who chairs the commission’s economic development committee, and Johnson attended an investment seminar, met with Bavarian government officials and toured a manufacturing plant while abroad, a county spokesperson previously told the Observer.
The delegation also attended the Panthers’ game vs. the New York Giants at Allianz Arena in Munich, which Carolina won in overtime. The game was part of the NFL’s efforts to schedule more international regular season games.
How much did Mecklenburg County spend on Germany trip?
The county paid $5,725.83 for Johnson’s trip, according to his expense report. That included a $965.91 plane ticket and $3,828.30 stay at the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski, a 5-star hotel. Johnson’s report also includes a $153 ticket to the Panthers game.
Rodriguez-McDowell’s expense report lists $5,140.77 in charges, including a $965.91 plane ticket and a $3,272.65 stay at the Kempinski.
Both also received daily allowances.
