Councillor reprimanded for not spending enough
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 | 9:47 AM ET
CBC News
Toronto city Coun. Rob Ford was formally reprimanded by the city's executive committee on Monday for not spending enough taxpayers' money.
Ford is the ultimate penny-pincher on council, spending nothing of his allotted $53,000 office budget this year.
Ford pays his office expenses out of his own pocket. He buys the stamps, the envelopes and pays the cellphone bills himself.
But that goes against the city's ethics rules that call for transparency in public spending, the underlying principle being that the public should know who is paying so there is no chance individuals or companies could use the money as a lever to ask for favours.
"You don't spend private money, or developers' money, or anybody else's money on things like your newsletters. You spend the public money because there's an audit trail, it's accountable," said Mayor David Miller.
There is no suggestion Ford is doing anything improper, but strictly speaking, he is breaking the rules.
Ford said he's done nothing wrong. He said he has been blessed with good fortune and he doesn't want to charge Toronto taxpayers for something he's happy to pay for.
"I can do what I want with my own money. I choose not to submit receipts because I don't want to be reimbursed. The only reason these councillors submit receipts is because they want to be reimbursed," Ford said.
He's also fighting back by posting all of the office expenses of his fellow councillors on his website, item by item.
He has long argued that office budgets are just slush funds and that some councillors have spent thousands of dollars this year on lunches and dinners, sometimes involving alcohol.
Possible pay suspension
"There's councillors at 2:30 in the morning taking cab rides. What are they doing at 2:30 in the morning taking cabs from downtown going to Woodbridge? Hundreds of dollars being spent," said Ford.
Ford's refusal to submit receipts and get reimbursed could land him a suspension of his pay for three months.
That doesn't worry Ford, who said, "I'm not going to die without three months' pay. What are they going to do next, throw me in jail?"
Council will decide on the punishment at its next meeting on Dec. 12.
