Every July, county officials from across America gather for the National Association of Counties Annual Conference, and every summer hardworking taxpayers ask the same question: Is it an important educational conference or just a taxpayer-funded vacation for county leaders?

This year’s five-day conference trip, beginning Thursday, July 16, in New Orleans, is likely to revive that debate in Guilford County and in counties across the country.

Guilford County has been sending representatives to NACo conferences for decades. However, the size of the county’s delegation has grown steadily over the years.

When I first began covering Guilford County government in 2002, it wasn’t unusual for only two or three commissioners to attend the annual conference – and that was when the board consisted of 11 commissioners. Occasionally, the county manager would make the trip as well, but it was uncommon to see a large contingent of Guilford County commissioners and senior county staff traveling to the event.

That’s all changed, and this year is a great example.

Vice Chairwoman Carlvena Foster and Commissioners Kay Cashion, Carly Cooke, Mary Beth Murphy and Brandon Gray-Hill are scheduled to attend, along with Clerk to the Board Robin Keller.

The county is also sending County Manager Victor Isler, Assistant County Manager Natalie Craver, Special Projects Manager Abby Banask and Deputy Chief Information Officer Partha Momidi.

County officials noted that the list could grow because additional staff members may be added after Guilford County received five national achievement awards from NACo.

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston, one of the conference’s strongest supporters, said he won’t be attending this year because it conflicts with the annual gala for the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, which he co-founded.

Alston said he hates to have to miss it.

“The conferences are very beneficial, very much so,” Alston said. “You go there and attend workshops and you learn what other commissioners are doing in their area. I’ve been doing that for years. Whenever they would publish the schedule of workshops and seminars, I would look to see what I had an interest in and what could be helpful to Guilford County.”

“You get a chance to meet other commissioners from places like New York or California,” he added, “and you bring that information back that can help us solve our problems.”

The board’s two Republican commissioners – Pat Tillman and Alan Perdue – aren’t scheduled to make the trip to the Big Easy.

County officials say there are good reasons for counties to participate in a big way. They argue that local governments across the country wrestle with many of the same issues, and commissioners and county administrators can learn from one another instead of reinventing the wheel.

Whether the conference ultimately proves worthwhile is harder to measure. Guilford County officials have attended NACo conferences for decades, but there’s no formal accounting of which ideas presented at the conferences eventually became county policy.

Some critics see the trips differently. They argue that the conferences are thinly veiled taxpayer-funded junkets that send elected officials and senior administrators to fun destinations around the country with little accountability as to how much they participate once they arrive.

It’s true that the educational opportunities are real.

Officials who spend their days attending workshops, asking questions and networking with colleagues from around the country can come home with useful ideas and valuable contacts.

At the same time, attendance at individual workshops generally isn’t tracked in any meaningful way, and several events are often going on at once. That makes it impossible for taxpayers to know who spent the week in meeting rooms and who may have spent considerably more time enjoying the host city.

The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Like most conferences, you get out of it what you put into it.

This year’s schedule includes sessions on artificial intelligence, behavioral health, cybersecurity, workforce development, disaster preparedness, housing, transportation and a variety of other issues affecting county governments.

One workshop, the “Mosquito, Termite and Rodent Control Hands-on Tour,” offers just what the name says: a hands-on tour where participants can learn how New Orleans combats rats, mosquitoes and other pests that threaten public health.

NACo’s own conference website encourages attendees to “Get to Know NOLA,” highlighting restaurants, attractions and neighborhoods throughout the city. Among the featured attractions is the internationally known Tales of the Cocktail Festival, which overlaps with the conference and is promoted as one of New Orleans’ signature events. The cocktail festival isn’t part of the NACo conference registration, and any personal entertainment would be paid for separately.

Conference destinations have long fueled criticism.

One of the most controversial NACo conferences came in 2005, when the annual meeting was held in Hawaii. Taxpayers around the country questioned why county officials needed to gather in one of the world’s premier vacation destinations at great cost.

Then-Rhino Times Editor John Hammer came up with what seemed like the logical response. At least I usually give him the credit.

I honestly don’t remember whether it was John or me who first said, “You know what would be funny? What would be funny is if we sent someone to Hawaii to follow the commissioners around and see what they do.”

We laughed and laughed about the idea.

A couple of days later, John Hammer walked over to my desk and said, “Get me a price on Hawaii.”

If Guilford County commissioners were going to Hawaii, the Rhino should go too.

So he sent me.

I took a flight that arrived a few hours before theirs so I could greet them at the airport as soon as they got off the plane.

When Guilford County commissioners Paul Gibson and Bruce Davis stepped off the airplane in Honolulu and saw me, they just stood there, stunned. They certainly weren’t expecting to find a Rhino Times reporter waiting to greet them in a tropical paradise.

The Rhino Times was one of only two mainland news organizations to send a reporter to cover the conference. The other was a local television station from South Carolina that sent a reporters.

It turned out to be an interesting week.

There were serious policy discussions, educational workshops and plenty of opportunities to exchange ideas with county officials from around the country.

There were also beaches, luaus, one fantastic rooftop party and enough tourist attractions to remind everyone why holding a government conference in Hawaii had become such a political issue.

More than two decades later, the conference still presents much the same picture.

According to travel information obtained from Guilford County through a public records request from the Rhino Times, the estimated costs for Foster, Cashion, Cooke, Murphy, Gray-Hill, Keller and Momidi total roughly $16,600, with individual trips ranging from about $2,143 to more than $2,800.

Hotel costs for Isler, Craver and Banask hadn’t been finalized when the county released the figures, meaning the overall cost will be higher.

If Isler, Craver and Banask each stay approximately five nights at the county’s estimated hotel rate, the total cost would rise above $25,000 even before meals, ground transportation and other reimbursable expenses are added in. Their final hotel costs and lengths of stay hadn’t been determined when the county responded to the records request.

The county also noted that airfare varied depending on when flights were booked and that travel planning was still underway because additional staff members could attend in recognition of Guilford County’s five national achievement awards.

For some reason, the commissioners’ round-trip airfare is about $500 or $600; the manager’s airfare is estimated at $971 and change, and Gray-Hill’s airfare is $1,138.

County staff members who aren’t the manager are flying round trip for about $430 – perhaps they’re being put in the back rows of a Breeze Airways flight.

According to the county’s records, conference registration costs $575 apiece for the commissioners, $675 apiece for several staff members and $700 for Momidi.

The conference hotel rate for commissioners is $219 per night. The county estimated hotel costs of about $375 per night for Isler, Craver and Banask, although their final bills weren’t available.

Commissioners and county employees sometimes bring spouses or other family members on conference trips, but taxpayers aren’t charged for those travelers’ expenses.

The names, airfare, registration fees, hotel estimates and incomplete cost figures above are based on the county’s travel-cost response

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