Around New England

Cape Officials Upgrade To Deluxe Suites — On County’s Dime

March 11, 2018

The clerk of the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates upgraded hotel rooms during a junket in Boston to deluxe suites, costing the cash-strapped county more than $2,000.

Six of the assembly’s 15 delegates and the clerk attended the recent Massachusetts Municipal Association conference in Boston, where group rates at the Sheraton Boston Hotel were $174 for a single and $184 for a double room, according to The Cape Cod Times.

But the deluxe rooms and suites on a “hospitality floor” cost more than $300 a night, and that’s what the county officials got, according to the Times.

Some county officials are questioning the expenditure, especially given that the county may implement an early-retirement incentive this year to try to avoid layoffs.

County commissioners are also questioning the role of the clerk who made the reservations. She gets paid an annual salary of $86,776 to assist an assembly that meets only twice a month, according to the Times.