By Alabama Public Radio
Mobile, AL – A recent state audit claims the Alabama Port Authority in Mobile has been spending too much money on travel fees for its board members.
The audit tracked expenses for fiscal years 2000 and 2001. In one report, it found that board member Anthony Fant was reimbursed more than 25-thousand dollars for air travel to Mobile from Minnesota, where he formerly ran a high-tech company and apparently still lives. The air fare was spent so Fant, who was appointed by former Governor Don Siegelman, could attend four Port Authority meetings. Coverage of that expense has since been discontinued.
The audit also showed board members used an instate air charter service to fly to meetings in Mobile 17 times at a cost of nearly 26-thousand dollars. Auditors said the average of 17-hundred dollars a trip seemed excessive considering the lower cost of using commercial flights.