Council expenses top $78,000 since 2015

Town records show Okotoks councillors have racked up more than $78,000 in expense claims over two-and-a-half years.

The Town began publishing quarterly councillor expense reports on its website at the start of 2015. From January 2015 to June 2017, councillor expense claims totaled $78,275, including $23,197 for conference and event registration, $19,207 for accommodation and $17,560 for mileage expenses. The Town also paid out $12,112 to three councillors for loss of wages at their other jobs due to council duties. The mayor’s expenses over the same period totaled $23,645, while individual councillors claimed between just over $3,000 at the low end to the highest at $15,780.

Coun. Carrie Fischer, who claimed the second lowest amount at $4,424, cautioned people against just looking at individual expenses.

“Residents are going to have to look at, if this is important to them, look at each individual councillor’s expense records and decide if you’re getting good value for that expense out of each councillor,” she said.

Councillors are allowed to claim for expenses related to their work on council, including transportation, conference fees or meals, and to reimburse costs for using their own vehicles for Town business. They can also claim up to $2,800 per year for loss of wages from their outside job due to council work.

Fischer is one of several councillors who say they pay most of their expenses out of their own pocket. It’s a personal choice, she said, adding she doesn’t begrudge councillors who claim expenses.

However, she disagrees with the practice of paying for loss of regular wages, something she hasn’t made any claims for.

“We are compensated to attend these meetings on behalf of council and I think it’s our responsibility to attend and I don’t feel we should be able to charge again a different amount to attend a job that we’re paid to do,” said Fischer.

Other councillors defend the practice. Coun. Ed Sands said he supports it in some cases. He said it’s important finances are not a barrier for serving on council.

“Do you lose good people because of the demands of that job, we can ease that burden a bit,” said Sands. “It’s got a limit on it, so it’s not a free ride.”

He said he won’t claim loss of wages unless he had to go out of town for council business.

Sands has claimed $1,112 for loss of regular wages on two occasions, once in the first half of 2015 and once in the second quarter of 2017. Sands’ total expenses were fourth highest, at $8,143.

Coun. Ken Heemeryck has claimed $7,000 for loss of wages, including $3,000 in 2015 – $200 over the limit.

Heemeryck said he supports the policy.

“That was the practice we learned when we initially became councillors. I think if the new council were to decide different, the new council could,” he said.

Heemeryck’s total expense claim is the third highest, at $10,092.

He said he has been paying his council-related expenses out of his own pocket since the start of 2016. With the exception of the loss of wages amounts, he has only claimed $27 in mileage expenses since the beginning of 2016.

Coun. Tanya Thorn had the highest claims among councillors, at $15,780 in expenses. She claimed $4,000 for loss of regular wages.

Thorn said most of her expenses were for attending meetings and conferences, and for professional development.

“I don’t have a problem with claiming those expenses and having those discussions with people about why I claimed them,” she said.

Thorn said it’s important for councillors to attend conferences and events where they can expand their skills and knowledge, or bring new ideas back that could be used in Okotoks.

Mayor Bill Robertson rang in the largest expense bill, tallying a total of $23,645, including $7,121 for event fees and registration, almost $7,390 for accommodations and $8,700 for mileage and transportation. He said his job involves a lot of travel, to meetings in the Calgary region, across Alberta and sometimes elsewhere in Canada.

“Certainly one looks at it, and granted my expenses are much higher, but this is supposed to be a full-time job and I’m supposed to go to all these different places,” said Robertson.

He also said he expenses day trips to Edmonton for meetings with provincial cabinet ministers. If one of those meetings is successful in securing funding for major town priorities, such as a water pipeline, Robertson said it’s money well spent.

“If that one hour meeting had the possibility of getting us something, then I’m all for it,” he said.

With $13,153 in expenses, Coun. Ray Watrin had the second-highest expenses among councillors. He claimed $5,024 for mileage, most of it spent driving back and forth to attend Calgary Regional Partnership transportation meetings in Cochrane, he said.

“No one else was doing the Cochrane run,” he said. “Sometimes it was once or twice a month.”

Watrin’s mileage claims dropped in the first half of 2017, from approximately $2,200 in both 2015 and 2015, to $465 in the first six months of this year. This, he said, is because many of the meetings have been regarding the On-It regional transit pilot program and they have been held closer to home in Okotoks or other Foothills municipalities.

The lowest expense claim came from Coun. Matt Rockley, at $3,036.89. He has only claimed $102.90 – a conference cancellation fee – since October 2015.

Prior to that, he said his remaining expenses were related to conferences and events.

He said he has been paying for mileage and other expenses related to his work on council out of his own pocket.

Though he chooses to do so, he said councillors shouldn’t be expected to pay expenses on their own.

“You don’t want the expenses to be a barrier for people to participate in local government,” he said.