A group of Kitsap County politicians we caught taking a 17-day, tax-funded junket to Europe has just been reprimanded by the State Auditor.

KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne first raised questions about the trip last February.

After we aired our investigation into the Karcher Creek Sewer District, state auditors moved in. They now confirm what we already knew; you paid for some politicians to play in Paris.

A small, elected group of politicians from the Port Orchard area last Fall took what they called a "work trip" to Europe. KIRO Team 7 Investigators exposed that was stretching the truth.

Records show that taxpayers footed a $31,000 bill while board members spent three weeks jetting from Seattle to London to Munich to Salzburg, Austria. The sewer district politicians then jumped on a train to see Budapest, Hungry, and Venice, Italy, before spending five days in Paris at luxury hotels.

MORE INFO Complete Audit Of Trip

Officially, the board was doing research on sewer systems, but after seeing our investigation, State Auditor Brian Sonntag questioned the purpose.

“Why would they do that? Why would they go there to look at systems that exist not only in this country, but in this state?

Sonntag’s audit says the Karcher Creek Sewer district can't prove it did any work on at least three days of the trip, costing taxpayers an extra $3,800.

There really wasn't a lot of reasoning. If you look at the fact that it probably wasn't illegal to do this, but does that make it right in the minds of citizens and taxpayers footing the bill? The answer to that is no.

In addition, the audit says the Karcher Creek District violated the Washington Open Meetings Act by keeping details of the trip secret from the public.

Sonntag told KIRO Team 7 Investigator Chris Halsne, “This decision was made not in the public light of day for this entire board to go. That's the first violation. That gets our attention. Those decisions are to be made in open public meetings and there is no record, no minutes, no nothing being kept. “

KIRO Team 7 Investigators uncovered $1,100 in additional questionable expenses; all paid back because of our investigation. That included expenses one sewer district politician racked up with her boyfriend in Paris.

Shortly after the mission to Europe, Commissioner Susan Way defended the board's decision saying, “We knew this was a business excursion so that was our main motive. Granted, you're going to see some things along the way.”

Sewer commissioners told the auditor they did "inadvertently violate the Washington Open Meeting Act." And, as a result, are making changes to the way meeting minutes are recorded.

As for the expenses of the trip, the board is not backing down, saying a few extra days in Paris, without work, was “a reasonable acclimation time after an arduous trip.”