Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, who has come under fire for his frequent use of state aircraft, has paid the state nearly $7,000 for his wife and son’s travel, a spokeswoman for the Department of Management Services said Thursday.
A check signed by Kottkamp and made out for $6,600.59 arrived at the department’s Tallahassee headquarters on Wednesday, said spokeswoman Cathy Schroeder.
The check covers the cost for 27 trips his wife and son made between Jan. 1, 2007 and June 30 of last year, Schroeder said.
Kottkamp owns a $1.4 million home in North Fort Myers and frequently works out of an office at Edison State College. He often spends only a few days a week in Tallahassee.
A recent investigation by the Sun Sentinel newspaper found that Kottkamp billed taxpayers $425,000 for 365 flights on state airplanes during his first two years in office.
The newspaper’s investigation found that Kottkamp owed the state $12,974 for his family members’ trips, money Kottkamp quickly offered to repay. However, the department’s calculations differed from the newspaper’s, Schroeder said.
In a recent e-mail to the department, the newspaper defended its figure, saying it made a calculation based on the number of passengers on each trip.
Schroeder said state regulations require the department to charge based on the cost of flight time divided by the total number of seats on each flight.
Kottkamp claims that the “actual cost” of his use of the state plane was $38,600 in 2007 and $48,000 in 2008,
The department’s figures are closer to the newspaper’s $411,503.60. That figure includes travel time on state aircraft for Kottkamp, his security detail and others traveling with him on official state business, Schroeder said.
A spokesman for the governor’s office could not immediately explain how Kottkamp arrived at that figure.
Kottkamp said he asked the department about paying for his wife and son’s travel, but was initially told it was not required. Another attempt to pay for his family’s travel was rebuffed, Kottkamp said.
Schroeder said the department is still looking into Kottkamp’s claims. Department officials can verify at least one phone call from Kottkamp’s office, but it has no evidence of what was discussed, she said.
Source: floridacapitalnews.com
