Your tax dollars give these top local leaders access to members-only Fort Worth Club
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Travel on the taxpayer’s dime
The Star-Telegram reviewed thousands of expense records for top government leaders in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, the school district and Tarrant Regional Water District, from business travel to club memberships.
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Your tax dollars give these top local leaders access to members-only Fort Worth Club
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The Tarrant Regional Water District uses taxpayer money to give its top official access to an exclusive space that most taxpayers themselves don’t have access to: the members-only Fort Worth Club.
A Star-Telegram review of thousands of pages of expense documents found that the water district used public money to pay for a membership for former general manager Jim Oliver. Records show that the new general manager, Dan Buhman, now also receives a publicly funded membership to the club, which bills itself as “a premier social, business and athletic club.”
[More in our investigation: How often top local leaders travel on the taxpayer dime]
Water district officials said that a club membership gives employees access to another space for work-related meetings and meals, and offers a place to connect with the community.
But Lon Burnam, a former Democratic state representative now leading a group of activists critical of the water district, said that the membership is “not a public sector-appropriate expenditure.”
“It is the audacity that some people in the public sector assume that that is okay, and it’s not,” Burnam said. “You want to meet with somebody, you go to a vegan restaurant or a burger joint, you don’t need to go to the Fort Worth Club.”
The Fort Worth city manager’s office also maintains a membership to the club, but expense records do not show monthly dues payments made to the club. City officials said the city manager’s membership is complimentary and that the city pays only for expenses incurred at the club.
This is different from the water district, which has agreed to reimburse its general manager for application fees, initiation fees and monthly dues, “together with reasonable business expenses incurred at the Club,” according to Buhman’s employment offer letter.
It’s not clear how long the water district and the city of Fort Worth have maintained memberships at the Fort Worth Club. The Star-Telegram reviewed three years of expenses and credit card transactions for top officials in local government, going back to mid-2018.
The Star-Telegram also reviewed receipts and expense statements for top officials at Tarrant County government and the Fort Worth school district. The review found no records of Fort Worth Club memberships for top county or school officials.
G.K. Maenius, the Tarrant County administrator, said it is against the county’s policy for staffers to receive reimbursements for members-only clubs, including Rotary clubs and the Fort Worth Club.
“Memberships in those types of clubs, the county doesn’t reimburse for any of that. We simply don’t participate,” Maenius said.
“If it’s an issue of where do you go for a lunch or a dinner, we go to places where you don’t need a membership.”
Oliver’s membership
Documents show that the water district reimbursed Oliver, the former general manager, for his monthly membership dues at the Fort Worth Club from at least 2018 until his retirement in summer 2021.
The dues increased from about $225 per month in 2018 to about $275 per month by 2021. In total, from July 2018 through July 2021, the water district paid Oliver $8,218.44 to reimburse his club membership dues.
In a text message, Oliver declined to comment specifically on any past water district business.
Oliver’s monthly statements from the Fort Worth Club, which he submitted to the water district to be reimbursed for the dues and other expenses that were labeled as business-related, show that he visited more often for personal use than for business use, though he was reimbursed with taxpayer money only for the business-related expenses.
A receipt from September 2018 shows that Oliver used the club’s personal training and athletic center services at least a couple of times that month. Other receipts, such as one from October 2020, are filled with redacted items that the water district apparently deemed to be non-business-related expenses.
At times, the district also paid for other charges on Oliver’s Fort Worth Club receipts, including parking payments and business lunches. Many of those charges are relatively inexpensive, such as a few dollars for parking or meal tabs below $100.
One particular expense was larger. On Oct. 15, 2018, Oliver was reimbursed for a tab of $676.78 at the club’s sports lounge. That same night, documents show, Oliver purchased two hotel rooms at the club, totaling $356.50.
The district assessed these charges, totaling more than $1,000 that day, as reimbursable with taxpayer dollars.
Although Oliver retired from the water district in summer 2021, the club membership lives on.
Buhman’s membership
Buhman, who took over the general manager role in July, now receives reimbursements for Fort Worth Club membership dues plus any business-related expenses, records show.
Buhman said the board decided to continue the membership during his tenure because the club provides a way to connect with people.
“We want to be where people are having discussions about the community — and the Fort Worth Club’s not the only place that happens, but it’s one of those places,” Buhman said. “And so (the board) felt like that was an investment in the district being open and transparent and connected to the community.”
Board president Leah King said the Fort Worth Club membership sometimes helps to streamline water district business.
“The location is convenient, the parking is convenient, the access to individuals, all of that makes it where it’s very easy to get business handled in a timely and a convenient manner, for not only the general manager but for the district overall,” King said.
Burnam, the former state representative who is critical of the water district, sees it differently. He said while the club membership is a relatively small cost, it could still hurt the reputation of the water district.
“It is a classic example of perks to employees at ... public sector expense that need to be brought to a halt,” Burnam said.
Buhman began submitting meal receipts from the Fort Worth Club in June, the month before he stepped into the general manager role. At the time, he used Oliver’s membership.
The water district then included a club membership reimbursement in its employment offer to Buhman. The water district’s board of directors did not specifically discuss the membership when they approved Buhman’s offer at a June 2021 public meeting.
Expense records show the district in July paid $1,894.38 for Buhman’s “initiation” fees to the club.
Receipts since that time show that the district reimbursed Buhman an additional $821.61 in membership dues for the months of August, September and November. (The water district documents provided to the Star-Telegram did not include a reimbursement for October dues).
From June through the end of October, Buhman ate at the Fort Worth Club at least nine times, charging a total of $393.58 to the district for meal meetings with local players such as David Cooke, the city manager, and Maenius, the county administrator.
Buhman’s recent club receipts, which list all club charges whether business-related or not, include some items that were redacted. According to an email from Buhman included in the expense records, the redacted items were considered personal use charges.
The city’s membership
The city of Fort Worth also holds a membership at the club, where officials sometimes eat meals. The Fort Worth Club bills the city manager’s office directly for expenses incurred at the club, as opposed to billing a specific individual, according to the records. However, some bills were addressed to both the city manager’s office and the city manager, Cooke.
None of the bills reviewed by the Star-Telegram specifically included monthly membership dues.
Cooke said the office has had a membership since before his tenure in Fort Worth.
“We’ve used that in a number of different ways,” Cooke said. “It allows members of (the) manager’s office, including me, to conduct business meetings at the Fort Worth Club. We have used that membership when we’ve had interviews and recruited department heads to the city.”
Cooke said there are rules associated with the membership, including that the city won’t reimburse employees for alcohol purchased at the club. And while those in the manager’s office can use the Fort Worth Club membership for personal use — Cooke said that he’s used the membership to gain access for personal meals — the city won’t cover those costs.
Records show that Cooke wrote a number of checks directly to the Fort Worth Club, for expenses that had been incurred on the city manager’s club account.
The records also show that the city made several unspecified payments to the Fort Worth Club of a few hundred dollars each from July 2018 through July 2021. In the same time period, the city recorded a number of meals that it classified as business-related.
None of those sets of charges appear to be unusually large for a meal — the largest single tab was a $108 meal for five people.
This story was originally published March 6, 2022 at 5:03 AM with the headline "Your tax dollars give these top local leaders access to members-only Fort Worth Club."
