It's been called a re-election slush fund, a loosely controlled pot of taxpayers' money available to each Toronto councillor to spend as he or she sees fit. And now, council's two notorious penny-pinchers have formally asked the city to do random audits on the way councillors spend their $53,100 office budgets.
Doug Holyday and Rob Ford, perennially at or near the bottom of the spending list, say the city's auditor general should do the audits because while most councillors live within the rules, the rules are not clearly defined, there is little monitoring of spending, and a cursory glance at the expense sheets raises alarm. For example:
Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti okayed cab trips from downtown to Bolton and Woodbridge after midnight; and he authorized a $200 limo ride, destination unknown.
"I'm looking into that," he said yesterday of the late-night cab rides to York Region and the limo ride earlier this year.
Councillor Pam McConnell spent $1,741.96 for Christmas cards last year – including $1,028.86 for 400 cards from the Flatiron Christmas Market. "Yes, that's ridiculously high," admitted McConnell's executive assistant yesterday. "I screwed up royally there."
Case Ootes, who barely fended off a strong NDP challenge in his Toronto-Danforth ward last year, winning by just 20 votes, needed every bit of the $36,111 of tax dollars he spent promoting himself in newsletters and ads in local media.
It didn't take rookie Councillor Adam Vaughan long to join the gravy train. Since his election, he's spent $900 for artwork for his office and $281 for an espresso machine. Now he says, "those are two of my most ridiculous expenditures."
Right-winger Karen Stintz, a frequent critic of council spending, got religious on her own office budget yesterday, moving to withdraw an expense she had filed for booze. "Not justifiable," she now admits.
Councillor Norm Kelly, who fancies himself an erudite, expansive thinker with wide interests, is the most peripatetic traveller, filing claims for over 15,000 kilometres last year. In addition, he ventured to China, using $3,100 of his office budget, with his wife, to lecture on water.
Ford says the above is enough to warrant a full council investigation into office expenses, but since city council and the mayor have refused to even countenance his suggestions, he and Holyday have turned to integrity commissioner David Mullan and auditor general Jeff Griffiths for help.
"This is no expense account. Let's call it for what it is – a re-election slush fund," Ford said yesterday. "They use it for shameless self-promotion, promoting themselves at the taxpayers' expense. The mayor is the leader of council. He should be taking the bull by the horns, but he's turned a blind eye and swept it under the rug."
Ford has been in a running battle with council over office expenses since he was elected in 2000. The latest volley came when Mayor David Miller proposed the land transfer and vehicle registration taxes. Ford and others argued councillors should cut their perks first.
Yesterday, responding to the Ford/Holyday request, Mullan says he does not have the resources to do such an audit and he acts only on specific complaints about a specific councillor's alleged inappropriate behaviour or spending. Griffiths said last week that such an audit has not been his priority but he would listen to a request from city council.
Winnie Li, head of the department that monitors council spending, told the executive committee last week that her staff are there to record and track spending, not police it. Councillors approve their own expenditures and if they say it is for council business, Li and staff can rarely challenge it – except when a clear policy is clearly violated.
Unfortunately, "there are gaps," Li says. "You're talking about a guideline; it's not as clear, as you can tell by those (expense) reports," she said yesterday.
Some councillors don't include all the details required on taxi chits or restaurant receipts, contrary to city policy. Mileage claims are inconsistent and obviously incomplete.
There is little monitoring of personal use of cellphones.
Some councillors flout a policy requiring them to get three quotes before they spend more than $2,000. Mammoliti, for example, bought a video camera, printer and other equipment without three quotes. The city's purchasing processes take too long, he says. Li admits it's cumbersome.
Griffiths and Mullan may be able to help councillors here. Leaving them to their own devices is costing money. And it is costing the councillors a huge hit in their image.
"The more city councillors fight, the more we do damage to each other, the more we lend weight to people's views that we can't do our job," said Mammoliti, one of the main combatants. "We need to stop."
He meant the sparring, not spending.
