A CBC report has revealed that Prince George Mayor Simon Yu has significantly overspent on travel and meals during his first year in office.
A Freedom of Information request filed by CBC News, from Nov. 7, 2022 to Sept. 28, 2023, shows that Mayor Simon Yu spent more than $18,000 on travel, accommodation, meals and entertainment, nearly double the $9,500 the city had budgeted for those expenses.
The report details trips to Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa, which included a first-class stay at Fairmont Château Laurier that cost $759.
There were more than $4,000 in meal expenses as well as $242 charge for a one-night stay at the Prestige Treasure Cove Hotel in Prince George.
Yu says he made the decision to stay at the hotel rather than cab home.
“I came in this role not totally understanding how the mayor’s expenses work,” said Yu in an interview Wednesday with the Citizen.
Yu said he agreed that some of the expenses were questionable and has vowed to pay back the $242 stay at the Treasure Cove.
“I will pay back the hotel that I stayed overnight because I did not want to drive, so things like that, I can definitely do better in the coming year and be more selective for the trips,” he said.
“After COVID, of course, inflation as well as the general increase in airfare and hotel contributed to the majority of the increase in the budget that we did not anticipate.”
Yu said he went on many trips to learn the duties as a mayor and be engaged in multiple events.
He also said he needed to inform councillors of the purpose of his trips during meetings and use the city’s communications team to broadcast the events he attends.
“These are things that I need to communicate to the citizens to let them see I am not going there to have fun,” adding that his full expenses will be in the public forum once the Statement of Financial Information (SOFI) report are released next year.
“This will be in the public forum and anybody who feels an item that shouldn’t be happening I can directly tell them what the expenses are for and if a citizen feels that it shouldn’t be charged to the city well then I will just have to pay it.”
Yu also said he was given a $5,000 budget to redecorate his office when he was elected Mayor but chose not to spend that money.
“I didn’t spend money on that, and I used those money to help my activities. In a sense the mayor’s budget is set up slightly different from the councillors so there’s items we can move back and forth.”
Coun. Cori Ramsay published a blog on the subject saying she didn’t feel it was appropriate to comment on another council member’s spending until the item comes before council for consideration which will happen when the SOFI report comes before council in 2024.
However, she said the council remuneration bylaw which sets out guidelines for council expenses and is very clear on what they can be used for and that the mayor and each member of council are accountable for their own expenses.
“Who is responsible and accountable for our expenses? The answer is simple. We are. It’s not our staff. It’s surely not an executive assistant. It’s definitely not the city’s communications department,” writes Ramsay.
“While they can support us in providing an update as to where we’re at if asked, the responsibility lies with individual council members – at least in my opinion which has been informed by five years of governance experience and orientation sessions.”
She also said that all of council receives extensive orientation and training at the beginning of the term and also receive additional information sessions throughout the year on things like the council remuneration bylaw, the council procedures bylaw, the community charter, the local government act, and conflict of interest.
