Town of Newmarket defends spending on holiday cheer, staff appreciation

The Newmarket Taxpayers Advocacy Group Inc. questions $18,000 price tag for staff events

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 7, 2017
By Teresa Latchford

The Town of Newmarket is defending how much it spends on staff appreciation.

Following a series of freedom of information (FOI) requests regarding expenses listed in the sundry, staff appreciation and miscellaneous accounts, the Newmarket Taxpayers Advocacy Group Inc. (NTAG) is questioning if the town is spending too much tax money on office morale.

"We feel strongly that taking the time to recognize and appreciate our employees is the right thing to do," Mayor Tony Van Bynen said. "Our people are our most valuable resource and without them, we can't get anything done."

The requested expenses show a $6,948 staff holiday party including decorations, photo booths worth $750, candy tables for $250, food and drink as well as a Christmas Eve luncheon with $1,900 worth of Chinese food plus pizza and drinks.

"We have checked with municipalities across York Region and it appears Newmarket is the only municipality to provide a free Christmas Eve luncheon in addition to a Christmas party," NTAG president Teena Bogner said.

The financials also list a separate holiday breakfast for the operations department to the tune of $350, a lunch for Newmarket Public Library staff worth $678 and another breakfast worth $220 without a specified department.

Outside of the holiday season, the town hosts an annual catered staff barbecue with a price tag of $6,529. There is also another line listing a barbecue at the operations centre for $2,562.

But Bogner isn't convinced these numbers represent the entire cost of these events.

"Based on these preliminary numbers, staff appreciation parties cost approximately $18,000 or more a year and these are incomplete costs," she added. "This excess is unwarranted and insulting to the taxpayers who fund this municipality."

The town has 274 full-time employees, 145 Central York Fire Services staff, 50 library staff and 400 to 600 seasonal and part-time employees, Van Bynen said. Staff keep drinking water safe, put out fires, maintain roads, bridges and sidewalks, maintain parks and trails and deliver more than 500 events and programs.

The average corporate budget for employee recognition for an organization is two per cent of payroll, which would be around $880,000 with Newmarket's $44-million payroll. However, the town budgets $20,000 to $30,000 per year for staff appreciation.

"Showing staff appreciation is one of the ways to achieve results through having a motivated engaged workforce," he said.

Although the FOI requests for expenses show the cost of a number of appreciation events hosted by the town for staff, Van Bynen points out revenue sources and fundraising wasn't included in the financials provided to NTAG.

"Town staff fundraise and pay for all entertainment-related expenses for the holiday party and pay between $15 to $20 per person for their tickets to cover 50 per cent of the meal," he explained.

There are also logistics to be considered. For example, the operations department has a separate holiday meal on site because snow plow operators, facility workers and on-call emergency staff cannot leave their posts.

"Staff appreciation expenses are within the policy and prescribed budget, following stringent policies and procedures," Van Bynen said.