Crab cakes, cookies and steak: Taxpayers paid $260K for judges' annual conference on Eastern Shore [View all]

The annual two-day conference of Maryland judges in May cost taxpayers $259,584.07 for nearly 375 rooms, food and beverages and conference facilities, according to the detailed invoice obtained by The Baltimore Sun through a Public Information Act request.

The 2018 Judicial Conference bill from the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa and Marina in Cambridge came in below the $324,595.60 maximum limit authorized by the contract awarded last year by the Administration Office of the Courts.

The highlights from the bill include:

• Of the 375 rooms booked, 358 were used on May 23 and 348 were occupied on May 24.
• Room charges: $133,061.84
• Food and beverage charges: $107,425.25
• Audio visual: $34,864.28
• The average total cost per booked room was $347 — not bad for a resort where a basic room next Wednesday and Thursday with breakfast would set one back $304 a night, not counting taxes and a $32 daily resort fee.

One of the two $6,000 coffee breaks for 358 guests and others included beverages, “house made granola bars” and “chocolate chunk and oatmeal jumbo home style cookies.”

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/investigations/bs-md-sun-investigates-judges-conference-20180823-story.html