"From a taxpayer's standpoint, you don't want (public officials) enjoying a feast, but something reasonable is OK," he said. "Because some of them are not adequately compensated, many of them feel justified in taking free meals from lobbyists. As a taxpayer I like the idea of them having work meeting meals on my tab, not on some lobbyist's tab."

Councilman Carlton Christensen said there haven't been many extravagant meals in his nearly eight years on the council. "I've not seen anything really, with a couple minor exceptions, anything that flamboy- ant," he said.

The largest single Salt Lake City food cost was the $17,000 the city spent in 2004 to feed its volunteer boards and commissions, like the Planning Commission, the Board of Adjustment and others.

City departments also reported spending at least another $4,500 on food for staffers to attend such meetings. That doesn't include the thousands city departments spent for staffers to eat before City Council meetings. Community development, for one, spent $4,123 to feed employees before council meetings.

"We feed the Planning Commission each time they meet," Deputy Planning director Brent Wilde said. "If we don't feed the Planning Commission members and the staff attending, they might not get to eat until 10 o'clock."

Lunch meetings for Planning Commission members, staffers and other boards also include food, Wilde said.

The $79,491.31 the city spent on food costs in 2004 includes food bought for employees and volunteers attending council, board and commission meetings, food city departments bought for internal and external meetings, in-house training meetings, volunteer efforts, retreats and other miscellaneous food costs.

It does not include food allowances employees get while traveling, food allowances for outside professional training, food expenses the city is required to pay under labor agreements and food the city offers as rewards for good employees. The total also does not include food costs reported by the Salt Lake City Department of Airports, which is not funded by tax dollars.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com