The mayor said he was promoting Salt Lake City by entertaining visiting mayors and notable jazz musicians — many of whom had never been to Salt Lake City. It is in the taxpayers' interest that these visitors walk away from the city with a good experience and a knowledge that the city has a nightlife, Anderson said.

"It would have looked ridiculous to invite all these people out together after the jazz festival and then tell them they had to pick up their own tab," Anderson said.

The $457 tab came July 9 — the next-to-last night of the jazz festival — as visiting mayors including Tom Bates of Berkeley, Calif., Heidi Davison of Athens, Ga., and Kitty Piercy of Eugene, Ore., along with the city's community development director, Louis Zunguze, and jazz musicians, joined Anderson for some post-festival refreshments (both food and drink) at the Grand America lounge. Anderson estimated there were some 20 people in his group. The total bill was actually more than the $457 Anderson put on his city credit card, but some people chipped in to pay the rest, the mayor said.

The mayor also defended the sloppy reporting of his reimbursement submission, which stated he paid for "Mayor & Mrs. Bates, Zunguzees, Mayor Heidi & Al Davison and others." Normally, for reimbursement, a city employee would disclose all the people the city paid for, not just a generic "and others" reference. In Anderson's case, it was difficult to know with such a large, fluctuating group, he said.

"There were several people that actually came in and left" as the night wore on, Anderson said.

Three nights earlier, on the first day of the festival, Anderson took Utah Symphony music director Keith Lockhart, Lockhart's parents, festival director Jerry Floor and "other jazz festival participants" to Squatters Brewing Co., following a festival event at Abravanel Hall. Anderson again put $175 of the bill on his city credit card.

"It would have been inappropriate not to pick up part of the bill," Anderson said. "This is an event of huge significance for our city."

City Councilman Dave Buhler, who is often at odds with the mayor, said mayors have to do a certain amount of entertaining. He said the public will have to decide whether Anderson's expenditures crossed the line.

"Whether this is excessive or not, people will have to judge that," he said.

Other City Council members had varying levels of unease about the bills. Councilwoman Jill Remington Love said she hoped private sponsors of large events like the jazz festival could pick up the mayor's entertaining tabs in the future.