Ford to dock Smith's pay for travel expense overpayments

Ukiah Daily Journal Staff
Updated: 08/20/2010 01:14:26 PM PDT

The Mendocino County grand jury announced 4th District Supervisor Kendall Smith's pay will be docked for $3,087, the amount she was overpaid for travel expenses between January 2005 and November 2006.

In an Aug. 6 letter, Mendocino County District Attorney Meredith Lintott directed County Auditor-Controller Meredith Ford to immediately start payroll deductions until the amount was paid.

The grand jury questioned the overpayments again this year after Smith denied she was overpaid for business travel between Fort Bragg and Ukiah in prior grand jury reports.

"You established the overpayment as $3,087," Lintott writes to Ford. "Demand has been made upon Smith to repay this sum by you, the District Attorney ... as well as by the grand jury. No payments have been tendered by Supervisor Smith."

Lintott's most recent letter refers to a March 24, 2008 letter she sent to Fort Bragg attorney James L. Larson, who once represented Smith on the matter.

In the letter, Lintott says the grand jury was pursuing repayment to the county from Smith for "trips she claimed between Fort Bragg and Ukiah when there was no actual travel and when her cost of overnight lodging was little or nothing because she either stayed with friends or in a room which she rented for $100 per month."

Smith's response previously was that she claimed the travel expenses based on a "per-diem" calculation she thought was acceptable because two other supervisors used it.

http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_15841927