By Dominic Abassi

‘No policy is required:’ City of Nanaimo denies release of staff expenses overdue

Jan 18, 2018 | 2:11 PM

NANAIMO — The City of Nanaimo denies it is behind schedule releasing expense reports for top earning staff.

While third quarter expense reports for councillors were included in the agenda for the Dec. 7 Finance and Audit Committee meeting, staff expenses were not.

In Septemeber 2016, the City announced it would release staff expenses twice a year, in August and November. At the time, city manager Tracy Samra said the move was “intended to provide greater transparency around how money at City Hall is being spent.”

The increased level of disclosure goes above and beyond what is legally required of the City. In the past, the information was published once a year in the City’s annual Statement of Financial Information.

In an email, chief financial officer Victor Mema said “Staff are working on finalizing Q3 staff expenses and they will be released once ready.”

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He said the City is not behind schedule because technically there is no policy dictating when or how the information is to be released.

“The City has not established a policy for staff expenditure releases in the same manner as Council’s. I am certain our routine release of staff expenses will become consistently frequent as our process improvements pay off.”

Mema said it’s not fair to say the City missed the step of creating a formal policy following the 2016 announcement because “No policy is required.”

On several occasions the City has touted their progress towards greater transparency around staff expenses. A December 2017 statement on employee expense policies boasted how their more transparent reporting exceeded provincial requirements.

“The public has an opportunity to scrutinize (expenses) more closely and demand answers. The City of Nanaimo should make every effort to account for how public monies were spent on City business,” Samra said in the release.

“Allegations that City staff have overspent or charged taxpayers for non-eligible expenses are unfounded,” the statement said.

The statement came shortly after NanaimoNewsNOW filed a Freedom of Information request for City credit card statements for Mema and Samra. That request was subsequently denied.

Mema was asked if the current procedure enables the City to boast about transparency without being bound by an official policy ensuring accountability.

“The City has not failed by any stretch,” Mema said. “Staff expenses were designated as routinely released many moons ago. Current administration have actually delivered on this practice.”

At the Jan. 10 committee of the whole meeting, a delegation asked Council about the delayed expense report. The question was met with 10 seconds of silence, followed by the mayor informing the delegation the question should be asked at a future finance committee meeting.

A second quarter report for 2017 showed Mema had already surpassed his annual budget of $7,500, spending nearly $12,000 by June 30. The bulk was related to travel, including a trip to Orlando for a conference.

Samra, meanwhile, was well below her annual budget of $16,530. The report showed she had spent a little less than $4,000 through the end of June.

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi