The spending habits of Red Deer city council will be divulged more regularly to the public.
Administration will be disclosing council’s expenses on the city’s website on a quarterly basis, instead of them being revealed once a year through often-cumbersome annual financial statements.
Legislative and Administrative Services manager Elaine Vincent said the public has an expectation that elected officials are spending taxpayer dollars wisely.
“We felt there was merit from an accountability and transparency perspective to do that,” said Vincent.
Starting April 1, the city’s website will show how much each councillor spent as well as how much pay they collected from meetings for January through March.
On Monday, she presented a report to council that showed councillor expenses and per diem amounts paid for conferences and meetings for the entire year of 2009.
Mayor Morris Flewwelling’s expenses were not shown because his role is under the Office of the Mayor and City Manager division, Vincent said.
Vincent added it was possible to get Flewwelling’s expenses calculated and have them ready in about a week’s time. Flewwelling said he will support having his expenses publicly disclosed every four months on the website.
“We’re all about transparency,” he said.
Vincent’s report revealed that council per diems increased by an average of $8,625 per councillor in 2009.
The average amount paid for a meeting was about $166, which equates to each councillor attending an additional five meetings a month. Per diems are also paid to councillors for their attendance at council workshops. For the first six months of 2010, council has planned eight workshops which are used to facilitate strategic planning.
Councillor Buck Buchanan’s expenses and per diems totalled $30,259— showing he was the highest spender among eight councillors, and that he had actually overspent by nearly $465.
Buchanan said he’s travelled to the spring and fall sessions of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties.
“I’m the only (council) member that has attended,” he said. “Each time you go, you add two or three days of expenses, plus conference costs.”
Buchanan said he’s also involved on a number of boards/committees, including for Westerner Park, Family and Community Support Services, Municipal Planning, Crime Prevention Advisory and SAFE Downtown Initiatives.
Each councillor receives an expense/per diem budget of $29,794.25 which includes $21,311 set aside for regular meetings and conferences, plus other expenses related to business travel, conference travel, mileage, training, printing and publications, registrations and miscellaneous supplies.
The remaining councillors spent this amount in 2009: Gail Parks — $27,448; Cindy Jefferies — $25,192; Lorna Watkinson-Zimmer — $24,796; Frank Wong — $23,351; Tara Veer — $21,044; Lynne Mulder — $20,834; Larry Pimm — $20,199. The bulk of the amounts are due to being paid for regular meetings.
On Feb. 8, council will consider any proposed salary changes for nonunionized or “exempt” staff. If there are any pay increases or decreases with these municipal employees. As part of a policy, council’s salary is automatically tied in with this group.
Last year, council received a 4.25 per cent increase, which raised their annual salary to $27,016. Flewwelling’s salary rose to $80,181.
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com