It cost Charlottetown taxpayers $65,076.10 to send their mayor and councillors to meetings and conferences in 2017.
That’s $16,053.61 more than it cost in 2016.
The City of Charlottetown recently posted its travel expenses, which are available for viewing on the city’s website.
To no surprise, Mayor Clifford Lee rang up the biggest bill at $23,099.81.
He attended two conferences in Montreal, the 2017 celebrations and event attraction meetings. In Ottawa, Lee participated in conferences for the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance, Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), Communities in Bloom symposium, an FCM board meeting, an FCM conference and sport tourism meetings.
Lee also attended the Atlantic Mayor’s Congress meetings in Moncton and Summerside.
The city only lists what each conference costs the mayor and each councillor. It does not provide any detail on how the money was spent, so there is no way to tell if anyone spent, for example, $12 for a glass of orange juice.
The city says it is working on releasing a more detailed expense file in the future.
What the mayor and each councillor spent in travel expenses in 2017:
- Mayor Clifford Lee - $23,099.81
- Coun. Terry Bernard - $12,129.05
- Coun. Kevin Ramsay - $8,749.12
- Deputy Mayor Mike Duffy - $6,935.66
- Coun. Mitchell Tweel - $5,340.85
- Coun. Greg Rivard - $4,323,10
- Coun. Jason Coady - $2,251,18
- Coun. Melissa Hilton - $2,132.33
- Coun. Eddie Rice - $57.50
- Coun. Terry MacLeod - $57.50
- Coun. Bob Doiron – No expenses
Coun. Terry Bernard comes next at $12,129.05. He ventured to Orlando, where he attended an athletic business conference at a cost of $3,949.97. He was also in St. John’s at a transportation association conference, which cost $3,594.34.
As the chairman of the city’s youth advisory board, Bernard took in the building resilience for children, youth and families in Calgary at a cost of $2,416.05.
Coun. Kevin Ramsay claimed $8,749.12, including a $2,895 trip to the Communities in Bloom symposium in Ottawa, where he said he subbed for urban beautification chairman Bernard.
Deputy Mayor Mike Duffy expensed $6,935.66. His two biggest bills were for the FCM conference in Ottawa ($3,506) and semi-annual meeting of the Confederation Centre board in Gatineau, Que. ($2,768).
Coun. Mitchell Tweel was next at $5,340.85. His biggest charge was at the athletic business conference in Orlando ($3,690).
Next was Coun. Greg Rivard at $4,323 followed by Coun. Jason Coady at $2,251 and Coun. Melissa Hilton at $2,132.
Couns. Eddie Rice and Terry MacLeod were on the low end of the list. They only charged $57.50 to attend the Federation of P.E.I. Municipalities meeting in Charlottetown.
But the thrifty councillor on the list was Coun. Bob Doiron who didn’t spend a thing in 2017.
