2015 council expenses

City council expenses topped $60,000 in 2015.

The $61,873.44 total does not include the $2,000 a month Mayor Nolan Crouse is paid by the Capital Region Board as chair. That fee appears on city expense sheets but is actually paid by the board.

The total does include the various meeting fees that are paid to council members but are reimbursed by the Capital Region Board.

Overall, as a trend, many councillors spent less in 2015 than in 2014, in some cases by thousands of dollars.

For example, when the Gazette did a similar story in 2014 only nine months of expense claims were available. Over that nine-month period, Coun. Tim Osborne had received $11,302 in expense payments, compared to $8,166 for all of 2015.

Council expenses include reimbursements for business expenses, like cellphones and Internet bills, as well as meeting and travel costs and mileage payments. Council expenses this year ranged from printer toner and ink to envelopes to a few iPad accessories.

Council members also have access to personal development budgets, which can include training, classes or conferences (excluding the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association and Federation of Canadian Municipalities conferences, which are covered separately).

Only two councillors had development budget expenses at all in 2015, well under the $5,000 they are allowed.

Coun. Cathy Heron spent $200 to attend a housing symposium with part of her development budget. Coun. Cam MacKay – as previously reported – paid $257 for a Tagalog language course computer program. He also claimed a Landmark Forum personal development course for $645 in December.

MacKay said it was a course that had been recommended by a resident, but he only went to one day due to a family emergency. Landmark Forum’s website describes the course as “designed to bring about positive, permanent shifts in the quality of your life.”

What councillors expense varies wildly. For some, like MacKay, business supplies and expenses like a cellphone are the highest cost. Others, like Heron or Coun. Wes Brodhead, see most of their expenses related to meetings. Osborne’s expenses tend to be related to his duties as a FCM director, while Coun. Sheena Hughes says she avoids taking meal meetings and tends to not have committees that meet outside of St. Albert.

Coun. Bob Russell, who was sworn in as a councillor in July, spent a mere $772.95. He’s also charging only 50 per cent of his Internet bill to the city, while other councillors seem to charge the whole bill.

“I’m using (the Internet) for my own use,” he said. “I think it’s the right thing.”

Brodhead said his expenses were lower in 2015 in part because he didn’t attend a transit conference he usually goes to annually. He said he tries to get his office supplies from the city or pays for it himself, though he did buy toner once in 2016.

He pointed out that the expense reporting can make it appear he’s getting paid extra, whereas it’s actually covering the costs of a council member’s day-to-day business.

“They’re reimbursements,” Brodhead said.

Council expenses are being reviewed as part of the council remuneration committee that’s been struck. The citizen group will give recommendations about council pay and expenses.

“I wish we could clear up the ambiguity in our policy as quickly as possible,” wrote Heron in an email, adding she’s looking forward to meeting with the group and seeing their recommendations.

Mayor Nolan Crouse said expenses for council members are a modest part of a $200-million budget.

He said attendance at conferences, for instance, are part of making political connections. Developing councillors, like a board of directors, is important, Crouse said.

As for the variety seen in councillor expense claims, he said each serves according to their different capacities and interests. For some, that includes serving on provincial and federal boards like the AUMA or FCM, or sitting on many different committees, while for others it is sticking closer to home.