$100,000 won’t repave your street or fix a bridge. But might pay for a few hundred metres of new sidewalk
Sam Merulla
$15,364.77 for McQuesten Fitness Trail (2014) $33,010.72 for seasonal wreaths for Kenilworth and Ottawa streets (2014-2016) $45,000 (in $5,000 grants) for school greening projects in his ward (2017)
Merulla said he thinks the discretionary funding is useful for time-sensitive spending, but suggested the city could publish quarterly reports on funded items. He said his school “greening” grants equate to Ward 4 park improvements. “In some areas, this is all (residents) have for green space.”
Chad Collins
$65,000 to create an east end food bank (2014) $10,000 for east end air monitoring station (2015) $19,288 for escarpment cleanup (2016)
Collins said the discretionary fund is useful for projects or work “that doesn’t appear to have an obvious home” in the city budget. He pointed to cash he used to pay for a cleanup of trash tossed from the escarpment edge onto land not maintained by city parks.
Tom Jackson
$90,672.50 for concrete-to-floral median conversions (2014) $3,534.13 for anti-graffiti cameras in Fay and Lisgar parks (2016) $1,350.80 for poll on light rail transit project (2017)
Jackson said he values the discretionary fund because it can quickly cover emergency expenses, such as safety fencing at Albion Falls. He also pointed to the ability to improve planned capital projects, such as adding a flower bed to an otherwise concrete traffic median.
Donna Skelly
$14,414.37 for various bocce club equipment issues like heaters, doors and chairs $33,555.38 for a power source for events in Sam Lawrence Park $35,475 for “coach” lanterns along Concession Street
Skelly, who took over from predecessor Scott Duvall (elected Hamilton Mountain MP in 2015) in 2016, said she is also concerned about some of the discretionary spending financial planner Viv Saunders listed in a letter to council and wants to see more transparency around the spending envelope. She suggested council could vote on any discretionary expenditure worth more than $10,000.
Terry Whitehead
$3,842.51 for various neighbourhood movie nights (2014) $2,150.36 for a Phantom 3 professional drone (2015) $15,000 to sponsor a Scout troop and Hamilton Huskies minor hockey team for out-of- town travel (2017)
Whitehead said dollars he green-lighted for neighbourhood movie nights were typically used to advertise newly completed capital projects paid for with area rating funds. For example, he used $11,000-plus to pay for and advertise a Buchanan Splash Pad Movie Night in 2016 after the project was done. Whitehead says he uses the drone to do “due diligence” on development application or tree-cutting plans. He says he considers it infrastructure, not an office budget item. He said he offered to bring council motions forward to authorize funding for Scout troop and Huskies trips, but city staff told him they were not necessary.