Mayor’s 2017 communication spending close to $100K

Mayor Charlie Clark spent $99,967.62 on communications in 2017, while city councillors spent $47,491.68, less than half of their combined budget.

Clark’s spending was the lowest total for an entire year for the mayor since council introduced the communications allowance in 2013.

The combined spending by councillors was also the lowest since 2013.

In 2015, the last full year for the communications allowance, former mayor Don Atchison spent just under $114,886.61, while councillors spent $68,505.96. In 2016, an election year, the allowance was suspended for a month and split between Atchison and Clark.

Atchison spent $73,317.55 and Clark spent $2,594.40 in 2016, while councillors claimed $49,951.95. In 2014, Atchison’s communications spending totalled $108,213.54, while council spent $64,664.14.

In 2013, Atchison claimed $84,466 in the first year of the communication allowance, while councillors spent just above $42,000.

Clark split his communications spending in 2017 mainly between a social media manager and a policy and communications adviser. The mayor’s communications budget is $128,000, while councillors combined have a $100,000 budget or $10,000 each.

Among councillors, only three spent more than half of their $10,000 budget in 2017: Darren Hill ($9,199.30), Zach Jeffries ($8,929.10) and Troy Davies ($7,735.41).

Three councillors spent less than $3,000 in 2017: Hilary Gough ($2,772.27), Mairin Loewen ($2,735.50) and Ann Iwanchuk ($1,354.62).