Sensitive expenditure revealed
New Plymouth’s mayor and councillors racked up close to $70,000 on the likes of air travel, accommodation, communications and mileage claims in the final half of last year.
The figure was revealed in the latest sensitive expenditure report, which went before the New Plymouth District Council’s finance, audit and risk committee yesterday.
The report covered the last six months of calendar 2023, from July 1 to December 31.
It showed mayor Neil Holdom had the highest expense account. He spent $12,873, including $4417 on flights and a further $3490 on accommodation.
The committee’s deputy chairperson, Adrienne Young-cooper, asked whether it was “best practice” to record travel expenditure without any accompanying explanation in the report.
Council chief executive Gareth Green said it was, while Holdom said he was comfortable with giving a “line by line” explanation in future reports.
Meanwhile, the next highest expenditure was not by a councillor or by Green but instead by Graham Chard, a Kaitake Community Board member who claimed the highest mileage cost out of any elected member in the district.
Chard, who is known to attend most meetings involving council committees, claimed $6027 for the final six months of last year and $10,316 overall for the calendar year.
Clifton Community Board member Murray Seamark had the next highest mileage expenditure, claiming $4280 for the six months.
Councillor Sam Bennnett, who stood unsuccessfully for mayor at the last local body elections, had the next highest expenditure on the district council for the six-month period.
Bennett spent more than $700 on flights and incidentals and $318 on accommodation. He also claimed $539 in mileage, while his communications bill was $1500.
He also had the most gifts registered during the period, accepting tickets to An American Journey on behalf of the Taranaki Symphony Orchestra, tickets to Cirque Olio on behalf of the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust, and two VIP tickets to the New Zealand Tattoo and Art Festival.
The only other councillor to spend more than $3000 in the six months was Tony Bedford, who claimed mileage costs of $1611.
Councillor Amanda Clinton-gohdes was the only elected member to claim for childcare, with her bill coming in at $2400 for the six months.
In all, expenses for the mayor and councillors for the last half of 2023 came in at $30,352, down on the first half of the year when the overall bill was $38,564.
Those figures did not include group catering costs, which collectively came in at $7288 for the year.
Overall, nine elected members had sensitive expenditure claims for the final six months.
The exceptions were councillors Murray Chong, Marie Pearce, Te Waka Mcleod, Max Brough and Bryan Vickery, who had nothing on their accounts.
The sensitive expenditure of community boards throughout the district was also revealed, with 10 members each spending $1950 on communications, a category that usually covers the likes of cellphones or laptops.