Let it begin….

“Stolz Tops Expenses List”

Of course he does, he is a conservative.

That’ll teach you for hanging up, Stolz!

It isn’t really possible to draw any conclusions from this information. A councilor may have high expenses because he went, for good reason, to a meeting that was distant or in an expensive venue. He may have high expenses because he went to more meetings than others. That may represent excessive travel or it may represent greater involvement in certain activities. To evaluate expenses we need to know what they were for, whether there was a good reason for the trip, and whether the councilor spent lavishly or frugally.

billposer: “To evaluate expenses we need to know what they were for, whether there was a good reason for the trip, and whether the councilor spent lavishly or frugally.”

Oh come on. It’s way easier to disregard the facts and pile on somebody who’s already under the media glare! ;-)

Congradulations Brian Skakun once again you’ve done yourself proud in your preformance of your duties as councilor for our city.

You are so right billposer. In this case I would like to see when he went somewhere as well since he was running to be the candidate for the Conservatives Jay Hill’s riding in the first couple of months of 2011.

But, you know, I would think that he wpould be very careful with that.

But, at first glance, when presented like that, it does make one suspicious, doesn’t it?

So yes, more info please.

Mayor Brian Skakun next term please.

One doesn’t have to even read this article or have knowledge of this week’s flurry of activity to think critically with this chart.

What would cause a Councilor to incur higher expenses than the Mayor, and roughly 30% higher than the next highest spending councilor…only to increase in difference more dramatically as you go down the line.

Let’s see, Stolz was one of FOUR members on the RDFFG and one of FOUR on the Finance & Audit committee and some other portfolio.

Regardless of whatever the reason, his spending is still not justified in light of all the preaching for fiscal restraint and responsibility….does this not mean prioritizing activities vs. expenses and adhering to a BUDGET!

To expand passed this instance:
The definition of integrity is something you demonstrate even when you know no one is watching. How we doing with that?

I would think that if any expenses were due to travel as a RDFFG director, they would have been expensed against the RDFFG. If it was a meeting/conference etc whch ould benefit both, they could have been applied 50/50 or some other breakdown agreed to betweeen the RDFFG and the City.

The most obvious concern I have and others may have is that he is the head of Council’s Finance and Audit Committee at a time when this City is facing financial problems, they are cutting staff and reducing funding for programs while Council has received considerable raises and he is leading the pack in the expense category by a wide margin.

Not exactly a shining light from the “lead by example” school of leaderhip, is he?

And for those of us who are looking further into the future, as he is, is he the type of person we would want to have to represent us in Ottawa in the next federal election?

Another way to look at it is to see how each Councillor did in relation to the average annual expenses.

Removing the new Councillors from the list as well as the 2010 and 2011 Mayor, the average expense was $6,042.44.

Here is how each did in relation to that average in percentage difference.

Cameron Stolz+85.57%
Dave Wilbur+22.04%
Don Bassermann*+21.30%
Garth Frizzell+4.54%
Murry Krause+0.78%
Shari Green**-21.43%
Debora Munoz*-36.48%
Brian Skakun-76.32%

Maybe Cameron needs lobster 3 times a day.