Interim Dallas City Manager Kim Tolbert spent around $13,600 in taxpayer money on travel expenses from October 2023 to early April 2024 to attend left-leaning professional gatherings.
Tolbert’s first trip during this period was to an International City/County Management Association event in Austin in October 2023, where the itinerary included an “Equity & Inclusion Leaders Luncheon” and an “Alvies Boot Party,” The Dallas Express previously reported. This event cost Dallas taxpayers $1,200.
Immediately following the Austin event, Tolber took a first-class flight to the feminist International Women’s Forum in Detroit, Michigan. The City of Dallas was charged $2,445 for her entry, and she flew first class both ways, which cost $335. Along with her per diem expenses, the total trip reportedly cost taxpayers around $4,000.
After the City ceased supporting certain housing projects, including tiny homes and other facilities used to house vagrants and homeless people, Tolbert traveled to Los Angeles and Atlanta to learn about their housing projects in January 2024. The total cost of the California trip was $1,199.94, and the Georgia trip cost $992.24.
DX contacted Tolbert to find out how the trips had informed City of Dallas housing plans. She did not respond.
As deputy city manager, prior to her taking over on an interim basis for former City Manager T.C. Broadnax, Tolbert traveled to the National League of Congressional Cities conference in March while accompanying the Dallas City Council on a trip to Washington, D.C. This event combined important City government issues with less relevant topics.
For example, workshops on obtaining federal taxpayer grants for local projects were held alongside “Race, Equity, And Leadership (R.E.A.L.) Council Meeting,” “Women In Municipal Government Board Meeting,” “Celebrate Diversity Breakfast,” and “LGBTQ+LO Membership Meeting.” The registration cost around $800, and hotel expenses were $2,500 for this trek — all on Dallas taxpayers’ dime.
The final expense came in the form of a trip to the National Forum of Black Public Administrators conference in Baltimore. This trip cost taxpayers $1,500 for a four-night hotel stay, $800 for registration, $350 for airfare, and $250 per diem.
“The National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA) is the principal and most progressive organization dedicated to the advancement of black public leadership in local and state governments,” the organization’s LinkedIn states.
DX contacted Tolbert for comment on this story, but she apparently chose not to respond.