Most Richmond Hill councillors underspent budgets; Beros spent maximum
Councillors, staff could see pay hikes next week

Yorkregion.com
April 6, 2016
By Kim Zarzour

Richmond Hill’s mayor and six members of council left almost 30 per cent of their annual constituency budgets on the table last year.

All but one - Ward 1 Councillor Greg Beros - underspent their allocated budgets in 2015, according to a report on council and committee remuneration and expenses.

Each member of council is allocated an annual budget for constituency expenses, which is discretionary, but must comply with town policy.

They are also provided an allocation to attend conferences or seminars to further municipal knowledge, awareness or leadership skills.

The mayor’s budget is set at $14,500 and local and regional councillors are allocated $10,800 each year.

Whatever is not spent is put into the town’s operating surplus.

The biggest spender last year was Beros, who reported exactly $10,800 in expenses, according to the report received recently by town council.

Ward 3 Councillor Castro Liu spent the least, at $6,243.

Beros also spent more than anyone else on council to attend conferences - $3,520 - while Liu spent the least at $31.52.

Members of council can use their allotted budget toward any conference they are interested in attending.

Liu, whose expenses came in $4,557 under budget, said he made an effort to keep costs to a minimum.

“Public funds used by members of council are to be used prudently.”

Beros, when asked how he was able to tally up an amount exactly equal to the budget, said, “I did not overspend my account”.

His attendance at conferences, (which exceeded that of the mayor and regional councillors), helps him help the taxpayer, he said.

“We all have different interests,” he said, pointing to his attendance at library conferences because he sits on the town’s library board and a new library is being built in his ward.

Other conferences tap into his interest in technology and desire to move away from a paper-based system to one that is electronic, he said.

“The more educated a councillor is on a topic, the better he can articulate for residents,” Beros said.

“I don’t think enough councillors go to enough conferences. It only benefits the taxpayer.”

The “real story”, Beros said, is the $91,196.12 spent through the Council Engagement and Marketing Fund.

The fund pays for such items as sponsorships, rental permits and supplies and tickets for community events.

The fund became a contentious issue in the last municipal election, with mayoral candidates Carmine Perrelli and Sridhar Methuku and the Richmond Hill Watchdog organization referred to it as a “slush fund”.

The mayor has signing authority on that account, Beros said, and it went over budget by $6,896 in 2015.

Other members of council request payment from that account for events and costs relevant to their wards or constituency; Beros admits he has done that himself.

“But it’s the principle of the thing, good governance, a question of whether it’s kept under a certain amount or divided equally.”

The Engagement and Marketing Fund, which supports local community organizations that ask the town to sponsor activities and invite members of council to attend their fundraising events, did exceed the budget, Mayor Dave Barrow said, but many other accounts did not.

As a result, the overall mayor and council budget - set at $250,000 to cover each councillor’s constituency accounts, memberships, Association of Municipalities of Ontario and Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference expenditures - was not overspent, Barrow said.

The actual amount spent in 2015 was approximately $211,000, he said.

Councillors, staff could see pay hikes
Richmond Hill council will vote Monday on a proposed salary raise for the town’s employees and elected representatives.

At this week’s committee of the whole meeting, members of council gave their approval to go ahead with ratifying a settlement between the Town of Richmond Hill and the Salaried Employees Association, including an annual increase in salaries of 2 per cent retroactively, effective January 2015, and 1.3 per cent effective January 2016.

Non-unionized and administrative groups of employees including managers, directors and commissioners would get the same deal, as would members of council - as recommended by the citizen report on councillor remuneration.

The decision goes to a full council meeting Monday night for final approval.