Councillors’ 2015 expenses released
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/06/2016 (2831 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Councillor ward spending for 2015 has been given the stamp of approval from city auditor Bryan Mansky.
The audited expenses of all 15 city councillors was presented to council’s governance committee Monday afternoon, where the reports were accepted for information purposes.
The report itemizes each councillor’s spending and is accompanied by the identical statement from Mansky.
“In our opinion, fund and chairperson expenditures of all City councillors were found to be in compliance, in all significant respects,” Mansky wrote in a cover letter to council.
Councillors are allocated $79,924 to spend on their wards. Councillors who chair a committee of council are provided an additional $7,000 for expenses for those duties.
None of the 15 councillors spent their entire allotted amount. Funds that aren’t spent are credited back to the city’s general revenues.
However, two councillors came close to spending their entire $79,924, both members of Mayor Brian Bowman’s executive policy committee. Coun. Mike Pagtakhan (Point Douglas) spent $79,850.24, and Coun. John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) spent $79.364.02
Both Pagtakhan and Orlikow incurred additional expenses that were covered by funds provided to them for their other council responsibilities.
Pagtakhan can spend up to an additional $5,000 for expenses in his role as deputy-mayor, in addition to his ward allowance and the $7,000 provided as chairman of the protection, community services and parks committee.
Orlikow spent the entire additional $7,000 provided for his committee chairman duties but most of that was listed as paid to his assistant.
Coun. Devi Sharma, has an additional budget of $5,000 for her role as Speaker and another $5,000 for her role as chairwoman of the governance committee.
Couns. Shawn Dobson (St. Charles) and Matt Allard (St. Boniface) reported spending the least among the 15 councillors. Dobson spent $64,116.80 and Allard $64,746.78.
For most councillors, their biggest expense is the salary paid to their assistant, which range from a low of $28,721 to over $60,000. Other expenses cover the cost of lunches, business meetings, advertising, attendance at ward events and typical offices expenses like photocopying, and postage.
In a separate report, Mansky proposed several recommendations to council to amend councillors’ expenditure reporting. He told reporters that most of those recommendations involved accounting processes.
However, one recommendation identified a council policy that allows councillors to carry over some expenses to the following year, which is in conflict with another council policy that prohibits any expense from being carried over to the following year. Mansky said that such a practice also conflicts with generally accepted accounting principles.
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca