SUMMING UP TRAVEL COSTS
Coun. Borrelli spent $8,000 on conferences
Coun. Paul Borrelli makes no apologies for spending more public money on travel than any of his council colleagues in 2017, racking up more than $8,000 in expenses to attend conferences in Ottawa, Toronto and Seattle.
“I think it would be remiss on my part to not take advantage of funds allocated for this particular purpose, if you can, and I can because I’m retired,” the first-term Ward 10 councillor said of his taxpayer-funded trips summarized in a report going to council Monday. It cost $2,554 for Borrelli to attend the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference June 1-4 in Ottawa and $4,166 to be at the Congress for New Urbanism, May 2-7, in Seattle.
His $6,720 in expenses was the most charged for council travel expenses, followed by Coun. Hilary Payne, who charged $5,967. Borrelli, a council-appointed member of the local board of health, also attended a Nov. 3 public health conference in Toronto, claiming $1,331 in expenses that were paid by the health board. He says all conferences are worth it. The new urbanism conference was also attended by Ward 4 Coun. Chris Holt, a new urbanism disciple who often argues against urban sprawl and car-friendly development, and in favour of bike lanes and public transit. Borrelli said he favours a more balanced approach in his council decisions, including when he voted with the majority last year to replace retail stores with parking on the ground floor of the Pelissier Street parking garage. Attending the new urbanism conference taught him about the need to create environments where people really want to live, he said. “Did I learn something? I learned a lot. Am I going to use it? Of course I am. Will it affect me in many, many ways? Yeah it will. You need perspective.”
In 2016, Coun. Rino Bortolin (who spent $6,178 going to three conferences) was the lead spender, but Borrelli’s $4,653 trip to Rome to attend a livable cities conference was the single highest expense. In 2015, Borrelli was the highest spender, expensing almost $9,000.
Expenses for all 10 councillors totalled more than $28,000 in 2017. Two councillors, Ed Sleiman and Fred Francis, didn’t claim a cent, while Bill Marra and Jo-Anne Gignac only made claims for home office equipment of $312 and $1,772 respectively. Francis has taken expensive trips as a city councillor, including one to Germany in 2016 and one to Japan and South Korea this year, but he says he pays “out of pocket” for them.
“It’s a conscious effort. I try not to burden the taxpayers any more than I have to,” he said, noting that councillors receive almost $40,000 annually — a combination of their base salary ($28,770) and payments for sitting on various boards ($10,877).
“I have a full-time job outside of council. Council pays me $40,000. I think $40,000 is more than enough and anything incidental above that I have no problem going out of pocket,” the Ward 1 councillor said. He added he isn’t being critical of councillors who make expense claims: “I don’t think anybody is doing anything wrong, because they’re just adhering to the budget (for conferences) that council set forth.” Payne, who spent $3,403 to attend the International Making Cities Livable Conference Oct. 2-7 in Santa Fe, plus $2,554 for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference June 1-4 in Ottawa, said the trips are “anything but a junket.” There are seminars all day, tackling such topics as the rising popularity of roundabouts, he said. “I don’t think it’s a real rollicking 5 trips to talk with Ontario
■ cabinet ministers
3 meetings of Ontario’s
■ big city mayors
3 trips (2 to Germany
■ and 1 to St. Catharines) to woo investors 2 airport-related
■ conferences
1 trip to St. Louis to
■ make a successful bid to host the 2022 Can-Am Police-Fire Games
1 trip to Seattle, part of
■ an unsuccessful bid to bring Amazon’s second headquarters to Detroit-Windsor
1 trip to Chicago to lobby
■
Beam Suntory executives to save the Canadian Club Brand Centre
1 trip to France for the
■
75th anniversary of the Battle of Dieppe
fun trip.” Payne says he always files a report on what he learned when he returns to Windsor.
“I look at it as an educational process. If you stay in your backyard all the time you’ll never find out what others are doing.” Mayor Drew Dilkens claimed $25,000 in travel expenses for 17 trips, compared to $28,125 for 15 trips in 2016. The most expensive was a $4,794 trip to Stuttgart, Germany. The mayor’s total compensation for the year was $174,289, down from $178,523 in 2016. His $86,895 base pay was the same, but he received less for sitting on various boards, $77,997 compared to $82,230. He received $57,206 for sitting on boards associated with Enwin and the Windsor Utilities Commission, $7,499 for the police commission, $4,141 for the YQG airport board and $9,149 for the city-owned tunnel corporation.
Councillors meanwhile, received a total of $108,770 for sitting on nine different boards. They split the money evenly, receiving $10,877 each.
The mayor and councillors received a total of $142,185 for sitting on Enwin-related boards, while citizens appointed to those boards received a total of $187,034.
Former mayor Eddie Francis collected $12,600, as did casino executive Keith Andrews and Ontario government senior business adviser Nancy Creighton. Information technology manager Kulveer Virk received $13,050, businessman Ibrahim Taqtaq received $16,650, and Aphria CEO Vic Neufeld received $18,900 for chairing the Enwin Utilities board. Retired WFCU CEO Marty Komsa was paid $14,400 as vice-chair of Windsor Canada Utilities plus another $16,500 for sitting on the Enwin Utilities board. Accountant Garnet Fenn received $14,400 from Enwin Utilities plus $14,850 from Windsor Canada Utilities.
Did I learn something? I learned a lot. Am I going to use it? Of course I am.