Report alleges St. Andrews councillors overcharged nearly $6K on indemnities in 2015

By Dave Baxter

Originally published: Selkirk Record

An independent report compiled by two retired chartered accountants shows St. Andrews councillors allegedly overcharged almost $6,000 in indemnities in 2015.

In some cases councillors allegedly charged for meetings they didn’t attend, or ones that didn’t even take place, according to the report.

The report put together by retired accountants Glen and Karen McKenzie of St. Andrews alleges the seven members of St. Andrews council overcharged $5,998.57 on indemnities in 2015.

Glen added he believes there could be more examples of overcharging they didn’t find, because they stopped after finding a long list of examples of indemnity errors.

"The amounts provided are based on what we did find, but there could be more,” Glen said, who added they spent more than a month working on the independent report.

The report alleges rookie Coun. Rob Hogg overcharged $2,283.04 on his indemnities for 2015.

It also alleges Coun. Ken Keryluk overcharged  $1,391.48, first-term mayor George Pike overcharged $941.67, and Coun. Rob Ataman overcharged $884.91.

Coun. Russ Paradoski allegedly overcharged $241.78, Joy Sul overcharged $238.25, and deputy mayor Laurie Hunt overcharged $17.44, for a total of $5,998.57 according to the report.

McKenzie said another St. Andrews resident asked him if he would take a look at councillor’s indemnities, because of his accounting background, but he said once he stared to uncover errors he was “shocked.”

The report claims Keryluk and Paradoski charged for meetings there is no record of them attending, and claims Keryluk charged five times for meetings where there is no record they even took place.

In 12 alleged cases Coun. Hogg charged both hourly rates plus half or full day rates for the same day of meetings essentially charging twice for the same meeting, and Mayor Pike allegedly made the same error four times in 2015.

In 2015 articles were published in both the Selkirk Record and the Winnipeg Free Press in which St. Andrews councillor Rob Ataman said council was going to make changes to how councillors receive indemnities, in an effort to reduce costs.  

He specifically mentioned they were changing their bylaw so councillors would not be able to charge full or half day rates for meeting in Selkirk.

Despite his comments Ataman allegedly charged full or half day rates when he should have charged hourly rates for meetings in Selkirk seven times in 2015 according to the McKenzie report.

McKenzie first presented to the report to council at a meeting on April 5,

After the meeting the Selkirk Record spoke with Deputy Mayor Laurie Hunt who said he believes indemnities were incorrect for 2015 because of a few “honest mistakes.”

Hunt claims council changed the rules on travelling to Selkirk in February of 2015, and right after the change he believes “one councillor” continued to charge incorrectly.

“I think that only happened once or twice,” Hunt said. “And that was right at the change-over of the bylaw.

“And I believe it was one councillor, and it was made in error. That hasn’t happened in over a year.”

Despite Hunt’s comments the report makes claims of multiple errors in indemnities for 2015, and Hunt admitted the person who does their indemnity paperwork doesn’t question councillor’s expenses, so it is completely up to councillors to fill them out correctly.

“We’re signing the indemnity sheet and we’re saying it’s correct. It’s 99.9 per cent on the councillors to do this correct,” he said.

Coun. Joy Sul who has admitted she has overcharged $238.25 because of what she said were errors,  says she plans to pay back the money “in full,” and added she is “very concerned” about what the report has uncovered,

“This is a very professional report, and this is their background”. Sul said. “I saw the report I was quite bothered.”

Sul said new councillors were not given proper instructions on how to fill out indemnities when they first started on council, and there is no consistency to how they are filled out, and no one checks them.

But she added she does not believe all the errors were honest mistakes

When asked if councillors were making mistakes, or in some cases overcharging it on purpose Sul simply said “both.”

Sul said when she was first elected she asked the person who does the indemnity paperwork what the protocol was for handing in indemnities, and she said the response she got was ‘you hand it in, I pay it’

Ataman was contacted for comment but said council prefers to have the mayor or deputy mayor talk to media.

The McKenzie’s are asking for a number of changed to the St. Andrews indemnity bylaw to make it more “consistent and defined.”

McKenzie said he is not going through councillor indemnities “to make people look bad.”

“We did this because if residents don’t go through the records then council will go unchecked. The only way we can do something is to challenge this,” he said.

The couple have given all members of council a copy of the report, and said they will give them “reasonable time to respond.”