Dining on the taxpayers’ dime at a party for York Region’s retiring chairman
Councils across York Region attended Bill Fisch’s retirement party in November paid for by the taxpayer.

TheStar.com
Dec. 12, 2014
Noor Javed

There was dinner, there was wine. It was a retirement celebration on the taxpayers’ dime.

Councillors and senior staff from cities and towns across York Region attended a fancy $125-a-plate retirement party for outgoing regional chair Bill Fisch last month at the Terrace Banquet Centre in Vaughan.

Regular regional staff who wanted to attend the send-off had to pay their own way, said York Region spokesman Patrick Casey.

Fisch stepped down from his post as chairman of York Region after 17 years, and about 800 people attended the Nov. 13 dinner to celebrate his career.

Municipalities fund attendance at such events through various means and with various levels of transparency, and one former York politician says elected officials should be paying their own way for these kinds of dinners.

“There were senior employees, former politicians, and elected officials all there,” said Markham Deputy Mayor Jack Heath, who sat at the Markham table. “Anyone who would have any interest at being at a party like this,” he said.

Vaughan MPP Steven Del Duca tweeted a picture of himself with Fisch from the dinner and recognized him for his time in public service.

In May, Vaughan council approved a recommendation to purchase two corporate tables, at a cost of $1,250 each, to attend the dinner.

According to the report, Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua was a key speaker at the event and said that “it would be appropriate for the mayor, members of council, the city manager and the senior management team to attend this event on behalf of the City of Vaughan.” It was pegged to go through council’s corporate budget.

Ultimately, the city purchased only one table, through the city manager’s office. The manager does not have to publicly disclose expenses, although the department budget is made public annually.

Deb Schulte, a former regional councillor from Vaughan, said she attended the event as a guest and sat at a different table.

“It was really done to pay respect to Bill Fisch, who has been a strong chair, and he’s been good to all the municipalities across the region,” she said. “But personally, I don’t see why one can’t pay for the ticket on their own.”

The town of Richmond Hill purchased one table, using funds from the council engagement and marketing fund. The fund is designed to support local groups and community events, and is mostly decided by the mayor’s office.

In 2013, the mayor doled out more than $85,000 in donations to community groups across York Region — such as a $2,000 donation for the Mackenzie Health Foundation golf tournament. Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow said that when the invitation to the dinner came to his office, it was decided to pay for it through this fund.

“I feel we did the right thing by attending as a municipality,” said Barrow. “It’s a town responsibility as opposed to a personal responsibility to attend a tribute dinner to someone who is a chairman of the region,” he said.

In Markham, the mayor and councillors attended the event and purchased one table. It is unclear how the decision to purchase was made. A number of councillors said they can’t recall the decision ever coming in front of council.

Newmarket councillors attended and paid for the tickets through the mayor's office.
But Barrow says it’s fair to question how such events are funded.

“It’s interesting that three councils have three different ways of funding such events,” he said. “There isn't much consistency.”