City paid $18,676 for public memorial for Rob Ford
The unprecedented public visitation at city hall involved overtime expenses for city staff, to be absorbed in existing budgets.

Thestar.com
April 1, 2016
By Jennifer Pagliaro

The city spent $18,676 for the late Councillor Rob Ford to lie in repose at city hall over two days.

The public visitation, unprecedented for a former mayor, involved opening City Hall on Easter Monday, when it is typically closed.

Most of the expenses incurred were for unionized staff overtime, including $11,539 for security officers. City spokesperson Jackie DeSouza said in an email that “all costs are being covered out of existing budgets.”

Non-unionized staff and management who are not entitled to paid overtime will be given time in lieu, she said.

The city and Mayor John Tory signed off on the public memorial at the request of the family. It included Ford’s casket lying in the rotunda with a revolving ceremonial police guard, where members of the public could pay their respects, speak with Ford’s family and sign books of condolence.

Over two days, more than 5,500 people lined up to do so, according to an official tally.

At Ford’s funeral on Wednesday, his brother Doug Ford praised both Tory and the city for their efforts.

“Protocol’s incredible,” he said of staff in the city office that handled the arrangements. “They did an incredible job.”

Of Tory, Ford said: “I want to say a special thanks to Mayor John Tory. He’s bent over backwards for our family, he’s filled every request.”

A police spokesperson estimated some 150 officers were involved in a funeral procession that blocked off Queen St. from city hall to Yonge St. and King St. to St. James Cathedral.

The Toronto Paramedic Services’ Honour Guard was also given a $1,500 honorarium.

It’s not clear if the uniformed presence was at an additional cost to the city, which covers the police service’s more than $1-billion budget. A police spokesperson did not clarify Friday afternoon.

DeSouza said the city covered costs for refreshments for the police chief’s ceremonial unit who stood by the casket in rotating shifts for nearly 24 hours, part of a total $1,226 refreshments cost.

There’s little precedent for someone lying in repose at city hall or costs incurred by the city.

Two sitting mayors who died in office had public memorials at what is now Old City Hall in 1936 and 1963.

As part of a state funeral, NDP opposition leader Jack Layton lay in repose at city hall after lying in state in Parliament. Heritage Canada organized arrangements in that case.

DeSouza said the city would have incurred overtime costs since the visitation took place Friday evening and Saturday morning, along with refreshments for the police honour guard and the family. She said she did not have specific figures but that those costs would have also been absorbed in existing budgets.