Council Expenses Still High
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 @ 4:00 AM
Prince George, B.C. – It will be another couple of months before the final tabulation of Prince George City Councilor expenses for 2012 are available for the public but early reports, included in the 2013 budget package, would suggest some Councilors are over the annual limit.
The annual amount budgeted for a Councilor’s expenses is $6,000. The numbers listed in the Provisional Financial Plan (budget) for 2013 – 2017, indicate that at the time of the production of the document, Councilor Cameron Stolz was, once again, over budget.
Keep in mind, there may be expenses for 2012 that were filed with the City after the provisional plan was put together, that is why the audited amount won’t be released until late May. Here are the preliminary results for Councilor expenses for 2012:
|
Name
|
2012 Expenses* (unaudited)
|
2011 (audited)
|
2010 (audited)
|
|
Cameron Stolz
|
$6458.00
|
$11,212.94
|
$8,679.34
|
|
Frank Everitt
|
$5469.00
|
Only sworn in Dec. 5
|
na
|
|
Garth Frizzell
|
$4390.00
|
$6316.95
|
$7175.12
|
|
Lyn Hall
|
$2742.00
|
Only sworn in Dec. 5
|
na
|
|
Murry Krause
|
$2414.00
|
$6,089.50
|
$7097.23
|
|
Albert Koehler
|
$2119.00
|
Only sworn in Dec. 5
|
na
|
|
Brian Skakun
|
$1855.00
|
$1430.78
|
$1646.67
|
|
Dave Wilbur
|
$1740.00
|
$7373.90
|
$6360.54
|
*In January and February, expense reports were filed with City Council , but it is not known if those amounts are included in the numbers noted above. The expense reports received by Council on January 21st indicate Councilor Frank Everitt spent $5388.04 total on his trips to the FCM meeting and the UBCM meeting. That same Council meeting had Councilor Stolz report expenditures of $2960.97 on a November trip to Ottawa for the FCM quarterly meeting.
On February 4th, Councillor Dave Wilbur submitted his report to Council for $2011.89 spent on attending the UBCM in September of 2012.
It would appear, that for the third straight year, the Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee, Councilor Cameron Stolz, is over budget. How many others are over the limit won’t be known until the complete audited version is released at the end of May.
Comments
Over shooting the budget should mean termination especially when you are in charge of the budget and you have done it three years running. What an out of control bunch of clowns.
And they keep voting for increases on taxes and fees, how do they sleep at night?
Remember, Stolz is fuelled by lobster.
They have a budget of $6,000.
In 2010 4 out of 5 where over budget
In 2011 4 out of 5 where over budget
And we wonder why PG is over budget.. these people cant grasp a budget of $6,000. How are the allowed to have any say in budgets and tax dollars?
And Skakun won’t tow the party line so they do everything they can to discredit him in council chambers and in the media. Like a bunch of schoolyard bullies with a pre-teen mentality: “Cmon Brian do it, be like us, put both hands in the cookie jar, do it or we won’t be your friend…”
What an unconscionable bunch.
So eight counselors at $6,000.00 per counselor is $48,000.00 (budgeted) so according to the numbers listed for this year $27,187.00 total spent by these counselors, leaving a total of $ 20,813.00 left in the budget allocation for counselors expenses.
So they havenât gone over the âactual budget allocation of $48,000.00 â, (20,813.00) still in the budget for more lobster, escorts or paperclips. So whatâs the issue? Sure there are a few of them that have no concept of fiscal responsibility, but we didnât elect them in because they were math geniuses (clearly thatâs not the case here).
Clearly a few of them need to be spoken to about there spending habits, but in the end it doesnât matter because so long as they donât go over the allocated total of 48,000.00 thereâs no harm done. If they went over the 48 then we would be able to really complain about something. But for now itâs just more fluff to remember come election time.
These numbers are great for knee-jerk reactions, but at the end of the day, are the expenses justified?
For example, it’s possible that Stolz’s expenses were perfectly inline with what he was doing and Wilbur’s were not. Based on this story, I don’t know enough about what they were charging or why they were charging it.
JohnnyBelt
I want to thank you for making an educated comment. You can’t run a business without incurring some expenses. If the expenses are legit – great. If it can be shown that there was waistful and blatant disregard for expense spending – then is the time to blast a councillor. ‘Innocent until proven guilty’ seems to be an unknown phrase in this constant dribble of negativity on this site.
During times when every dollar saved is a dollar earned, to even put forward the notion that they have not overspent their “departmental” budget is not helping the cause.
Professional ….. YOU’RE FIRED!!!!!
“On February 4th, Councillor Dave Wilbur submitted his report to Council for $2011.89 spent on attending the UBCM in September of 2012.”
Interesting ….. should not get reimbursed for that …..
So it looks like hos 2012 expenses were actually closer to $4,000 rather than what is states in the matrix.
Looks like their unaudited expenses are under the total allotment.
The saving could be put to good use by organizing another trip to China. It appears the last trip to China is paying off handsomely.
dont forget ottawa recently taking her puppet ohlan with her
It seems pretty straight forward to me. They know their individual expense limit is $6,000.
They all agree to that when they set and vote in favor of the budget. If they don’t agree they should speak up and make the case for a change.
Knowingly going over what you had already agreed to is either incompetence in budgeting 101 or complete disregard for the value of our tax dollars. Money not spent is carried forward to help keep taxes lower the following year and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that.
It is interesting that the chair of the finance committee is the worst offender and for a guy who claims to be a conservative, being the biggest spender is also rather ironic.
This council kind of reminds me of Jimmy James from Newsradio (for those that remember the show…
Jimmy-“you know what I do when I cant meet budget Dave?”
Dave – “what sir”
Jimmy – “MAKE A BIGGER BUDGET!!”
Take the word “Expenses” out of the title and you might have an interesting story to ponder here.
Didn’t they promise respectful and responsible behaviour during the election campaign?
Interesting to see in the expense table who is overspending (Stoltz)and who is well below budget for 3 years running (Skakun. It is disturbing also when one of the largest overspenders is the Chair of the City Finance Committee–something like the fox guarding the green Henhouse. Skakun’s budget should be 3 times larger than the rest of the councillors because he is the only councillor representing the citizens of Prince George. But I imagine his low spending is only one more reason for councillors to work against him and that would be because he is showing them up so badly in more ways than one.
Gus
Folks love to get worked up over numbers, sure they over spend what was allocated to each of them. But in the end they stay within the budgeted allowance. That’s how they would explain away the concerns of over spending.
I am not agreeing that the spending habits are by any means acceptable. I am simply pointing out the excuse they will offer to the pubic. Gus you need to remember these are politicians (elected lairs). Spinning and issue is what they do or shrouding it in double talk.
I am just saying what everyone else should be thinking (if thinking were required before posting)….lol
Have a great day!
Maybe a call into Stolz our finance guy for an Explanation is in order Mr Meisner.
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