Richmond Hill Coun. Greg Beros facing audit over campaign finances

Joint compliance audit committee orders closer look

Yorkregion.com
July 19, 2019
Sheila Wang

Richmond Hill Ward 1 Councillor Greg Beros is facing an audit over his financial statements from the 2018 municipal election campaign.

A joint compliance audit committee ordered the audit on July 18 to look into the longtime councillor’s campaign income and expense.

Three committee members, chaired by Ron Colucci, made the decision unanimously at a hearing for audit applications filed by two Richmond Hill residents.

Residents Scott Thompson and Wayne Leafloor each filed a request for compliance audit to the clerk’s office in June for a few councillors over allegations of campaign finance violations.

“It is a little troubling that there is zero office expense and phone expense declared,” Colucci said of Beros' financial statement before going to a closed-door for a private deliberation.

Records show Beros spent nearly $21,000 on his campaign, without declaring any expense for office, phone and internet.

The committee did not provide specific reasons for ordering the audit for Beros. A summary of reasons will be posted on the city’s website on July 19.

“It’s shocking,” said Carol Davidson, who spoke to Beros on behalf of Leafloor at the hearing.

The ruling on Beros was unexpected, as many expressed their disappointment after the committee decided against auditing Ward 2 Tom Muench earlier at the hearing.

Muench was under fire in the beginning of the meeting as the two residents filed compliance audit requests for him on the grounds of exceeding the spending limit, missing residential addresses on the financial statements and receiving donations from joint accounts.

“With all the questions asked, I was surprised by the ruling the committee came back with,” Thompson said after the committee decided not to grant the audit for Muench.

The committee also denied the application for audit for regional councillors Carmine Perrelli and Joe DiPaola.

The reasons for the denial will be posted on the website the next day as well.

From the day of decision, the applicants of the audits have 15 days to appeal the rulings on the three councillors.

The City of Richmond Hill is expected to hire an independent auditor to look into Beros' campaign finance.

“It’s going to be a very long process. It could take months,” the chairperson said.

The Liberal will continue to follow up.