Salt Lake City policy regarding the spending of city funds says legitimate expenses include "food and refreshments for city business meetings with invited guests." It also says taxpayer dollars may not be used to purchase alcoholic beverages.

Salt Lake City policy forbids officials from using taxpayer money on alcohol.

Mayor Rocky Anderson said he didn't know that was the rule when he billed the city for food and drinks while entertaining guests during the International Jazz Festival this summer.

He knows about the policy now - and he calls it "absurd."

"We look so strange - in a bad way - to people outside the state when we have these kinds of absurd liquor laws or policies. I can't imagine Mayor [Richard] Daley, when he hosted mayors in Chicago, telling [guests] he'll have the city of Chicago pick up our meals but that we have to cover our own glass of wine. That wouldn't happen anywhere on this planet, except Salt Lake City. Excuse me, Utah."

Anderson said he spent "a little over $300" on a tab at Squatters Pub Brewery for Utah Symphony music director Keith Lockhart and others following a symphony performance connected to the city-sponsored jazz festival in July.

And he said he charged the city "just over $500" at Grand America during the festival entertaining mayors and other guests in town for Anderson's Sundance Summit on the environment.

He said the expenses were appropriate because the festival was a city event.

"It was just a common courtesy and hospitality. Did I sit there and calculate how much was food, how much was alcohol? No. That would have been embarrassing."

The issue arose after two daily newspapers, including The Salt Lake Tribune, sought Anderson's expense reports through an open-records request.

City Attorney Ed Rutan said he couldn't say if Anderson violated the policy. "I haven't looked at the policy, much less what the facts are."

Anderson - who suspects the city paid for alcohol while entertaining during the 2002 Winter Olympics - noted he split the festival-related tabs with others. Technically, they could have paid for the alcohol and the city for the food, he said.

But Councilwoman Nancy Saxton said Anderson should "ante up and pay for it [the alcohol] out of his own pocket."

Council Chairman Dale Lambert said the policy makes sense - he wouldn't want to see city employees adding alcohol to business-lunch tabs. But he said the policy may need to be changed to make allowances for "special guests. I do not want to unduly tie the chief executive's hands with special guests."

Anderson - who implemented a highly publicized ban on city employees taking gifts - said he is "so stingy when it comes to paying taxpayer's money" he often spends money out of his own pocket while on city business and he doesn't take per diems while out of town. He said he will buy his own ticket to an RDT dance performance this weekend - even though he's attending to read a mayor's proclamation.

"It's a strange thing to be focusing on. I'm not a Nancy Workman and I'm sure as hell not a Deedee Corradini."

Workman was investigated and cleared for misusing public funds to hire two bookkeepers to assist her daughter. Corradini, Anderson's predecessor, solicited donations to pay her legal bills while she was mayor.

hmay@sltrib.com