FRESNO, California. (FOX26) — For decades, Fresno city officials have taken international trips paid for by you, the taxpayer.

For what? They say it’s part of something called the Sister City program.

So, what exactly is it and is there any benefit to the city or the taxpayers?

We asked public records to trace every dollar spent on a trip to a sister city in Germany.

FOX26 News took a look at where your money goes when these trips are taken and if it’s really worth the cost.

In August 2023, a delegation from the City of Fresno made an international trip to Munster, Germany.

The trip cost Fresno taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.

It cost nearly $10,400 just for the mayor’s office staff.

Public records obtained by FOX26 show the following city officials were on the trip: Mayor Jerry Dyer, Mayoral Chief of Staff Kelli Furtado, Communications Director Sontaya Rose and Government Affairs Director John Ellis.

Also, District 2 Council Member Mike Karbassi, his Chief of Staff Alyssa Stevens and Council Deputy Andrew Kloose.

District 5 Councilmember Luis Chavez and Councilman James Verros also followed.

Board members and their select staff used money from their district budgets for a combined total of about $17,000.

So why Germany, and how does it benefit Fresno?

Mayor Jerry Dyer said, “You know, some of the tours that we do, whether it’s a sister city or any international trip, sometimes you get some knowledge and ideas. Sometimes the return on investment is money, with which we have achieved good results, and sometimes it is simply about building relationships.

The goal this time around was to make Fresnono safer in terms of bike paths and transportation.

Councilor Karbassi said: “What is lucky for us? Munster, Germany is known for being very bike and pedestrian friendly, but there are cars on the road. Last year they had no fatalities from bikes, cars and pedestrians. In the city of Fresno this year we are going to see more deaths from traffic collisions than homicides and that has not happened since the year 2000. Something is wrong and we need to fix it.

FOX26 checked this out and came across this article stating that Munster, Germany ranks second in the top ten most bike-friendly cities in the world.

However, we were unable to verify the zero deaths cited by Karbassi.

The German city is known for “a low rate of cycling fatalities and for hosting events promoting cycling”.

It seems that more than 39% of residents use bicycles to get around.

“Going and looking at the bike paths in Germany, I think it’s just a summer vacation,” said Usan Shelley, vice president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers’ Association.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is dedicated to monitoring your taxes and reducing unnecessary spending.

Shelley disapproved of the trip.

She explains that Germany is not in the United States and everything is different.

“Our local government structure is different. We just have a different system here, different topography and everything is different. So we need to…we need to look at what’s happening in California,” she said.

Karbassi and Dyer disagree. They said it would cost more and that visiting a city in California to learn about transportation was like looking at Fresno, or worse.

Dyer said: “There are times when a mayor has to leave his city to go to another state, another country in order to bring back new ideas, build relationships or establish a business here. which will ultimately benefit us economically. This is my role as mayor and I cannot allow criticism to stop me from doing the things that the people of this community expect of me.

They shared an itinerary with FOX26 News that featured a packed schedule with work-related tasks every day of their trip:

• visit the University of Munster to learn more about renewable energy
• cycling in the Munster region
• take a tour of the Lamberti Tower
• visit the very first 100% renewable energy zoo
• attend conferences on infrastructure, housing, public safety and transportation
• and even a beer tasting, giving rise to a new beer exchange partnership

But Shelley doesn’t believe it.

She says we shouldn’t spend local taxpayers’ money to see how other countries are doing.

She said city officials might have known about the structure online through videos and photos.

“They don’t really need to go to Germany to look for cycle paths with your money. For their money, it’s good. On your money, not so much,” she said.

“I don’t know if it’s fair for you to ask elected officials to spend their own money to travel abroad, to do something beneficial for their city. Because that’s why people elect them and that’s why we have travel budgets,” Dyer said.

He points out that the city council has set aside $50,000 for sister city tours and international travel for an entire year.

He says they spent less than half of that on their trip to Germany.

Mayor Dyer also explained why it was beneficial to fly there rather than looking for information online.

“If someone had told me about it or shared photos with me, I wouldn’t have understood how this whole system works together. But sitting down with them and learning not only what they do… but why they do it and how they got to this point, I think it was an eye-opener for me as mayor of the city,” he explained.

According to the documents, we have counted nine people who paid your fees to learn this.

So, was it necessary for them all to leave?

Mayor Dyer says if people didn’t have a reason to take this trip, he wouldn’t have allowed them to go in the first place.

He said he refused the request to other staff members who wanted to go.

FOX26 asked if there were any other trips scheduled on the calendar.

Dyer responded: “I currently have an invitation on an economic development trip to go to Bulgaria and I’m not sure I’ll go. »

We asked why. The answer: this story.

Dyer said: “I’m not sure it’s worth criticizing.”

He explains that sometimes “people are misinformed, perhaps sometimes about why elected officials or appointed officials in the city travel. Maybe I’ve been that critic myself in the past, because we’ve seen politicians abuse those privileges, right?

He points out that he wouldn’t do that and says he’s willing to go at his own expense.

“I’m just not sure I’ll go there or maybe I’ll try to find outside funding to pay for it, but it would be a huge benefit to Fresno – if in fact – we could bring this business here.” , Dyer said.

So, to return to the question at the beginning of this story, is it worth it?

Karbassi says: “…we are investing now. So that when you raise your kids here, if you want to be able to go out on Sunday and ride your bike, you’re not going to get hit by a car because we don’t have the capacity to coexist on our land. roads.

Dyer said, “If anyone wants to question the way the city’s money is spent, I will be first in line because I don’t want to see taxpayer dollars wasted. One of the reasons I ran for public office was so that we can make sure that we’re making the most of the money that we have, and I’m trying to urge that we invest it wisely.

So what has the trip to Fresno brought us so far…beyond ideas and design plans for the future?

Karbassi points out that the Germans came last year, for the Fresno International Transportation Innovation Summit 2023.

It brought together professionals and policymakers from around the world to discuss how to make the world safer when it comes to transportation.

He says it generated revenue for the city.

Another summit is already planned for 2025, right here in Fresno.

FOX26 also reached out to council member Luis Chavez who made the trip.

He declined an interview.

FOX26 News also requested public records regarding a trip city officials took to Japan in March of this year.

This one is not a trip to the Twin Cities.

We are still waiting to receive these documents at this time.