Trust?

I was reminded yesterday that the Town of Wasaga Beach has not introduced a method for public disclosure of the new Council expense funds. I don’t think they have publicly posted a policy on how Council members are to spend this money.

Oh, there are all kinds of whispers, but Tax-Payers deserve to know the personal spending habits of those entrusted with municipal funds.

Would all of their claimed expenses survive the scrutiny of the public or even the Integrity Commisioner? Perhaps not, but hey Brian… why risk it. It’s much safer to hide the details of that particular spending unless forced to be transparent. Imagine the uproar if municipal funds were being used Willy Nilly.

Should these funds be used to support a Councilors job function like paying mileage if they attend a ribbon cutting? Should they be able to pay the rent on a meeting room for specific private groups just because they like the work of that group? Should an expense account be used to purchase Town Swag for the Council member to distribute or should swag only be handled by staff? So many POSSIBLE questions, but nobody really knows what to specifically ask. Why? Because these slush funds are secret, in that there is no public disclosure of this yearly $35,000.00 budget item.