Financial Disclosure Financial Disclosure

Travel Disclosure Report

Details

Parent Category: Financial Disclosure

The Travel Disclosure Report is used to report reasonable hosting expenses paid by a source other than the City of Atlanta for travel, meals, lodging, and conference registration.  The report is due within 30 days of the travel, event, or reimbursement. 

General Requirements

• Reimbursement is limited to hosting expenses, such as travel, meals, lodging, and registration
• Expenses must be reasonable
• Travel must be in an official capacity
• Reports are due within 30 days of the travel or reimbursement

Travel Expenses Paid by a Prohibited Source  

Officials or employees may accept "reasonable hosting expenses" from prohibited sources for travel in four situations: 

• Attending a conference
• Participating on a professional or civic panel
• A speaking engagement
• Teaching

Travel Expenses Paid by Other Sources

Officials or employees may accept travel expenses from other non-city sources for travel in an official capacity under the Code of Ethics.  There is no restriction on the purpose of the trip, if the entity paying for the travel is not a prohibited source. If traveling on city time, the employee must receive departmental approval for the travel.

Gifts of Travel to the City

The City and its departments may accept gifts of travel from prohibited sources for training, travel to review a best-practices program, and other official city business as a gift to the City.  The gift is to a city agency which chooses the persons to travel.  The department is required to disclose the gift on a Gift to the City Report, and the individual must file a Travel Disclosure Report. 

Who Files
 
The individual who accepts payments or expense reimbursements from any source other than the City of Atlanta files the travel report.  Thus, a city employee or official who travels in an official capacity files an expense report as required by the Department of Finance when the city pays for the travel or files an online report in the Electronic Disclosure System when another entity pays. 

Where to File

The Travel Disclosure Report is filed online in the Electronic Disclosure System within 30 days of the travel or the receipt of the reimbursement. 

What to Disclose

The Travel Disclosure Report asks the following: Donor's name and address; date, location, and subject matter of the event; and the amount paid for travel, meals, lodging, and other expenses.

Conflict Disclosure Report

Details

Parent Category: Financial Disclosure

The online Conflict of Interest Disclosure Report must be filed when an official or employee is disqualified from voting or participating in a matter due to a financial or personal interest.

Who Files 

All officials and employees are prohibited from participating in a decision in which they have a direct or indirect financial or personal interest, but only officials and employees filing the financial disclosure statement are required to file an online conflicts disclosure report.  Section 2-813 (b) covers 23 categories of filers, including members of city boards and commissions. In addition, members of the City Council are required by their rules of procedure to state their reasons for abstaining due to a conflict of interest.

Where to File

The Conflict of Interest Disclosure Report is filed online in the Electronic Disclosure System as soon as the official or employee becomes aware of the conflict.  It is recommended that the filing be made no later than seven days after the meeting or decision.

When to File

Knows or should know.  The code requires disclosure when the official or employee "knows or with reasonable investigation should know" that the employee has a financial or personal interest in proposed legislation or a decision pending before the employee or the employee’s agency.

Example:  An employee with a financial interest in a consulting firm has the firm run a conflicts check against the list of companies doing business with the city to determine when he is disqualified from participating in a matter.

Example:  A board member serving on an authority board learns from the meeting agenda that a member of her law firm is representing a developer in a proposal before the board.  She files a disclosure form as soon as she learns about her firm’s representation of the developer before the authority.

Financial or personal interest. A financial interest is any interest that yields a monetary or material benefit to the official or employee or any employer or immediate family member of the official or employee.  Personal interest is defined "as any interest arising from relationships with immediate family or from business, partnership, or corporate associations, whether or not any financial interest is involved."

Example:  A councilmember serves on the Board of Directors of a non-profit organization that receives funding from the City.  The councilmember is disqualified from voting on a resolution to approve a grant to the non-profit group.

Example:  A neighborhood planning unit chair is a real estate broker who has been retained as a sales agent by a property owner. The property owner appears at an NPU meeting to seek support for a rezoning. The NPU chair has a financial interest in the zoning matter based on her sales contract with the property owner.

Pending matter. There needs to be a matter pending before the City.  An official or employee is not required to file a disclosure form under the Code of Ethics because he, an employer, or a family member’s employer has done business with the City in the past or is likely to seek city business in the future. 

Example:  A local law firm hires the sister of an attorney in the law department.  The firm is not currently doing work for the city, but did work for the City in the past and may seek the city’s business in the future.  The attorney is not required to file a conflict disclosure report based on a completed contract or the possibility of a future contract.

Gift to City Report

Details

Parent Category: Financial Disclosure

The online Gift to the City Report is filed when an official or employee receives a gift or donation on behalf of the City or one of its agencies.

Who Files 

The report may be filed by the elected official or individual who received the gift, the department head, or the designated representative of the agency. 

Where to File

The gift report is filed online in the Electronic Disclosure System no later than December 31 of the year in which the gift was received. 

When to File

The Gift to the City Report is filed when city officials or employees accept a gift on behalf of their office, department, or agency.  It is required when the gift comes to the City or one of its agencies: 

1. from a prohibited source
   
   • an airline donates plane tickets as a prize to give away at a city event
   • a law firm who represents the City donates pro bono services to a city agency
   • a vendor donates 100 tickets for Atlanta youth to attend the circus
   • a downtown business group pays for three city representatives to travel to review another city’s streetcar system
2. as a result of soliciting a donation
   
   • a health insurance company donates iPods for a door prize
   • an office supply company donates computers for a recreation center
   • a cable operator donates money to sponsor the Mayor’s Bowl  
3. as an honorarium
   
   • a department head accepts a check made payable to the City of Atlanta following a speech to an industry group
4. for addition to the general fund or the city’s inventory of property
   
   • a package shipping company donates trucks to Fleet Services
   • a neighborhood association donates furniture for a local fire station
   • a home improvement store donates lights for a city tennis court
   • a local utility donates money for the Women’s History luncheon
5. when gifts will be distributed to individual officials or employees
   
   • a home and garden show donates 100 tickets to the City Council to distribute to planning employees and neighborhood planning unit officers 

How Gift Reports Differ from Travel Disclosure Reports

The Gift to the City Report is used to report gifts to the City, its departments, offices, or agencies for city-sponsored events, such as the Dream Jamboree, and for city programs, such as fire station improvements.  In comparison, the Travel Disclosure Report is used to report payments and reimbursements of expenses given to an individual for travel in an official capacity to a conference in another city or registration fees to attend a local conference. 

Both gift and travel reports must be filed in a few situations, such as when a prohibited source donates a gift of travel to a department. Officials and employees should contact the Ethics Office when in doubt about which form to file.

Board members

Details

Parent Category: Financial Disclosure

2017 Required Filers 

The list of current and former board members, hearing officers, executive directors, and neighborhood planning unit officers who are required to file the 2017 City Financial Disclosure Statement is listed below.  Board members and NPU officers must file every year that they serve and the year after they leave city service. This list is organized by the filer's
last name.

*Note: the names on this list are subject to change