Caslin mum on expenses
Three days after thousands of pages of regional council expense reports were published online at his request, Regional Chairman Alan Caslin still won’t discuss how council is spending the public’s money.
The Standard made multiple requests to interview Caslin about his expenses, those of regional councillors and council’s expense policy that allows members to claim such things as charitable donations and trips to out- of- town radio stations.
Those requests have gone unanswered.
Caslin sent The Standard an email Wednesday praising the release of the expense data as another step toward transparency and said his expenses would be judged by taxpayers against his record as regional chair.
However, Caslin has yet to answer questions regarding his own expenses, which the released data provides only scant information about.
Caslin’s expenses show, for instance, he claimed pricey meals for meetings. But there are no supporting receipts or details to show who he is meeting with or where. His reports only list locations as “Ontario, Canada.”
The Standard first asked Caslin in the fall about some of his 2017 expenses — they included a $ 222.26 meal purchase in May “meeting with constituent” somewhere in Ontario. At the time, a regional spokesman said the chair requires anonymity to maintain an “open door policy.”
The Tuesday afternoon dump of some two decades worth of councillor expenses was the result of a freedom of information request filed by Caslin last October.
On Sept. 28, after The Standard published stories about councillor expenses in the fall, the paper filed an FOI request for all councillor expense reports for this term of council, which began in December 2014.
On Oct. 2, Caslin filed his own request, asking for 20 years of reports. The Region then asked The Standard to put its request on hold in favour of Caslin’s. The paper declined to do so, and the Region then denied The Standard’s request, choosing instead to process Caslin’s FOI file.
Caslin, as chair, has had the greatest expenses of any elected member of council during this term. In 2016, he claimed $ 24,251.48 in expenses. The next highest total came from Welland Coun. Paul Grenier at $ 19,648.19.
Most councillors claim less than $ 10,000 in expenses each year.
The released reports show councillors routinely charge taxpayers for a variety of items — including Thorold Coun. Henry D’Angela’s 108 souvenir mugs stamped with the Niagara Region logo purchased for $ 482 in 2015, and St. Catharines Coun. Andy Petrowski’s 2014 purchase of $ 190 leather work boots and mink oil.
Under the Region’s corporate policy, councillors are allowed to expense memorabilia and souvenirs for constituents.
D’Angela said he hands the mugs out to Thorold businesses for their openings or ribbon cuttings and anniversary celebrations. He was originally going to order Region pins, but thought people would get more use out of the mugs for the money. He bought green stone mugs from a Thorold company with the Region’s logo at $ 3.49 each. He still has a bunch.
He also pre- purchases frames for certificates to give to businesses for their openings, congratulating them from their regional representative. “For me, it’s a small token considering the time and energy an individual puts in for a business and they’re trying to make our economy better here in Niagara,” he said.
Councillors can also expense promotional material related to regional business, such as Grenier’s $ 128 bill for 150 campaign cards and 200 vote stickers to be elected to the board of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario in Ottawa. Grenier said he printed postcards and stickers because he had to “hustle for votes.”
“My expenses are all about representing Niagara and municipalities throughout the province at various things I attend,” he said.
The corporate policy also allows councillors to expense office supplies such as printer ink and pens, travel on the 407 toll highway and get subscriptions related to regional business.
They are also allowed to expense one ticket when representing Niagara at an event of a public nature such as community dinners and events with proceeds going to charity. St. Catharines Coun. Brian Heit and Fort Erie Coun. Sandy Annunziata are among politicians who have expensed charitable event tickets.
Annunziata, who claimed $ 141 for a Hamilton Alzheimer Society event in 2015, has also billed the taxpayer thousands of dollars in mileage to appear on Newstalk 1010 in Toronto.
Councillors have also used their expense accounts to bill taxpayers for charitable donations they made — including Pelham Coun. Brian Baty and Niagara Falls Coun. Selena Volapatti.
Some councillors have also accumulated massive cellphone bills, often the result of incurring significant roaming charges.
The most dramatic of these bills is $ 17,000 in roaming charges billed to Petrowski. The bill was the result of more than 1,300 megabytes of data moving through his phone in December 2016 while he was in the United States and the Caribbean.
Petrowski has not responded to requests for an interview to explain the charges. A regional spokesman assigned to answer inquiries about regional expenses did not answer The Standard’s questions about whether Petrowski’s roaming charges were paid by Niagara taxpayers.
Other councillors racked up smaller roaming and data charges, such as Niagara Falls Coun. Bob Gale, who incurred $ 591 in U. S. data roaming charges on his iPad in February 2015 and $ 481 the following month for the same thing.
Gale said he has no recollection of the event two years ago and the expense wasn’t raised with him by the Region. But he said he no longer takes the iPad with him when he travels and only opens his cellphone when it’s on Wi- Fi, unless he knows there’s a meeting he has to participate in.
“I usually schedule my vacation so it’s not going to fall during those meetings,” he said.
Under corporate policy, councillors “engaged in regional business” are expected to “arrange an appropriate out- of- country mobile device plan in order to avoid excessive roaming charges.”
St. Catharines Coun. Kelly Edgar took his iPad on vacation to China to visit his daughter in 2016 and expensed a Travel Zone 3 wireless package for $ 125. Edgar said he brought the device to keep up with council business.
“I was missing meetings and I wanted to know what I was missing,” he said. “I wanted to take it for emails and stuff like that.”
Edgar said he planned to use Wi- Fi on the trip but wasn’t sure how reliable it would be. “I thought, I don’t want to get some long bill for something I screwed up on, so I thought it best to take the package out and be safe.”
Volpatti — who made a $ 200 donation to the YWCA in 2015 and got the money back on her council expenses — said the current expense policy allows her to support local groups.
“I get around six invitations like that a month,” Volpatti said in a Thursday interview. “If I had to pay for those out of my own pocket, I wouldn’t be able to afford it.”
Volpatti said she wants to able to support groups that she thinks are worthwhile and there is a public expectation that she, as an elected politician, attends community events.
She said when she receives charitable tax receipts for donations — as she did for the YWCA donation she ultimately charged to taxpayers — she does not use them against her income taxes. “You cannot do both,” she said.
Reports show many councillors expensed charitable event tickets and donations in 2015 and 2016. There are very few of those types of expenses in 2017 reports, which do not yet include the end of the year.
Volpatti, speaking only for herself, said there has been no change in how councillors purchase or report events or donations on their expenses.
“My use of those may have declined in 2017 because I did not want to give offence to the taxpayer,” she said. “I never wanted to give any offence to the taxpayer. I wanted to be able to support worthwhile causes and I only did so in Niagara Falls. To go outside the city would have been too over- the- top for me.”
Brock University political science professor David Siegel, who specializes in municipal politics, said councillors can make these claims because of the permissive regional expense policy.
Siegel suggested Wednesday that regional council may want to consider a stricter expense policy.