Prince George City Council reported on their expenses for the first half of the year at last night’s (Monday) meeting.
In the first quarter of this year, Mayor Simon Yu claimed $6,783.90 in expenses, as well as $6,079.18 in the second quarter.
For other members of Council:
- Tim Bennett: Q1 – $332.50, Q2 – $471.37
- Garth Frizzell: Q1 – $100, Q2 – $2,404.52
- Trudy Klassen: Q1 – $1,377.10, Q2 – $2,507.80
- Ron Polillo: Q1 – $1,671.16, Q2 – $2,501.16
- Cori Ramsay: Q1 – $175, Q2 – $4,976.23
- Kyle Sampson: Q1 – $2,901.99, $3,883.56
- Susan Scott: Q1 – $0, Q2 – $137
- Brian Skakun: Q1 – $805, Q2 – 213.15
The Q1 Report can be found here, while the Q2 report can be found here.
During Monday’s meeting, expense reports were also presented from the Directors of different City departments, which prompted a discussion on the directors reporting their expenses.
Councillor Cori Ramsay put forward a motion directing City Manager Walter Babicz to routinely report on his expenses to City Council in a closed meeting setting, rather than in a public setting.
“I have a concern about asking employees to publish this information, primarily around the fact that all of the expenses in these reports are to do business that Council has already approved within the budget,” she explained.
“I think by moving this into the closed meeting, Council can still have the accountability of reviewing these expenses, but it removes the critique by the public to our employees for doing work that we’ve already authorized.”
Ramsay said she was concerned about employee attraction and retention as well.
“If we’re looking to attract employees that may be interested in a future position like that, we are the only City that asks this of employees,” she said.
“I do think that it could potentially be a barrier to recruitment.”
Councillor Susan Scott agreed, saying while the report was asked for in good faith, there’s a better way to do it.
Councillor Ron Polillo agreed.
“I think there’s a more appropriate way to present that information and I believe it’s not in this manner, for the reasons that Councillor Ramsay mentioned, and the important reason that we’re elected, they’re not,” he said.
Councillor Brian Skakun disagreed, saying the motion was “a step backwards.”
“That motion was passed legitimately, this is a way, in my opinion, around a motion Council passed, we voted on, it was legitimate, and I don’t think we’re giving this any time,” he said.
Skakun added the employees are public servants paid for by the tax payers as well.
Councillor Trudy Klassen had similar thoughts as Councillor Skakun.
“That exercise of justifying them makes you think about ‘what are you spending taxpayer money on,”
“I think ultimately we all owe, any City employee owes their jobs to the taxpayers, and I’m not afraid of taxpayers.”
Councillor Garth Frizzell said the report was “a big nothing-burger.”
“We commission reports and require reports so that we can make decisions, and there’s nothing here, so I don’t see the value in it,” he said.
“I get the transparency argument, but it’s outweighed by having to put money put money into something that we’re getting not much for.”
Ramsay’s motion narrowly passed with a 5-4 vote, with Councillors Bennett, Klassen, Skakun, and Mayor Yu opposed.
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