By MOIRA MACDONALD
While Toronto Catholic school board trustees have taken a public roasting over the use and abuse of expense accounts, a Toronto Sun investigation shows some Toronto public board trustees also practise similar bad habits.
Receipts obtained under a Freedom of Information request show several public trustees overspent their general expense budgets in 2006-07 and appear to have charged taxpayers for personal, inappropriate or undocumented costs.
Meal receipts were frequently submitted as meeting expenses and reimbursed without explanation about who the trustee was meeting with and several trustees' meal receipts reflected meals for one.
Other expenses ranged from home cable TV bills to hair salon charges and high mileage claims (the high mileage was documented with details by the trustee).
In some cases, public board trustees subsequently repaid expenses.
Education Minister Kathleen Wynne this past week appointed former bureaucrat Norbert Hartmann to take over control of and supervise the city's Catholic board following a scathing investigator's report that slammed the culture of entitlement and toxic atmosphere at the province's largest Catholic school board.
Trustees were toppled six months after the Sun first reported on trustees' excessive spending on late-night meals, booze, clothing and vacations.
The Sun first requested details of public board expense spending in early January but it took another two months before a reporter was allowed to view expense receipts and another month and a half before officials released copies of selected receipts.
Those documents reveal questionable spending, sloppy billing habits and poor accountability are also evident at the city's public board.
For example, former board chairman Sheila Ward and Beaches-East York trustee Sheila Cary-Meagher both expensed charges for the McDonald's drive-thru.
Cary-Meagher -- the third highest-spending trustee -- readily admitted she "takes myself out to dinner" on the taxpayer's dime when she needs to read through board documents and agendas.
She said it takes her extra time to read through an agenda because of a learning disability and added that eating makes her job easier.
"Living alone, not having to spend the time cooking is a big plus," said Cary-Meagher, who has served as trustee since 2000. "I feel comfortable about it and clearly the board feels comfortable about it."
In his May 2008 report on Catholic board expenses, Hartmann criticized trustees for billing taxpayers for single meals and for eating multiple meals on the taxpayer's dime.
"Trustees are provided meals for most central meetings they attend," he wrote. "Therefore, individual meals should be at a minimum."
The Sun review of a public board document found similar questionable billing at the public board.
Trustees Michael Coteau and Chris Bolton submitted numerous receipts for meals without explanation, but complained the board had not given them sufficient briefing on the protocol for submitting expenses.
"Now is the perfect time, considering what's happening at the Catholic board, to have that discussion," said Coteau, also the board's vice-chairman, representing Don Valley East.
Board controller Sanjay Puri said that although it's "the norm" that meeting receipts should reflect more than one person attending and should give detail about the meeting, the board has not provided an explanation to trustees "of what detail means."
The lowest-spending trustee, Howard Goodman, said his cheap ways are a habit bred into him by years working in the private sector as a management consultant and in manufacturing, although he did not begrudge other trustees spending more.
Goodman did not claim anything under meeting expenses -- which can include restaurant meals -- because "it's my meal and I'd be eating anyway.
"I meet with people, I go talk with them," Goodman said. "But I don't believe that our business requires that level of socialization."
Phone service -- which includes cellphones -- was an area of significant spending, with 10 trustees spending more than $1,200 in phone charges and five spending more than $3,000. Some newer trustees elected in November 2006 also showed signs of significant spending, with three spending well in excess of $100 a month. Current board chairman John Campbell said he has asked trustees with higher phone spending "to look into alternate [service] plans."
Trustee Josh Matlow from St. Paul's also received a reprimand last summer from board chief of staff Marlene Riley for buying "several" personal digital assistants on his expense account within a 12-to-18-month period.
"I am a little concerned because this is a big expense from your account and, frankly, if the units are failing/faulty, you should be given a new unit quickly and for free -- as a replacement," Riley wrote in an e-mail last July. "I believe the units you are purchasing are not supported by the TDSB."
Matlow -- among the more digitally "plugged-in" trustees and who usually makes himself easy to reach -- also expensed a $130 bluetooth headset.
Matlow said the situation has been "resolved" and that he has switched to a new plan he expects will lower his cellphone bills from the $4,670 he expensed last year.
"Communicating is where I put my priority," Matlow said. "I'm working 24/7 and I get a ton of phone calls."
Matlow's expense file -- along with Scarborough Centre trustee Scott Harrison's -- also showed expense receipts for home cable TV charges.
Both Harrison and Matlow said they were not aware the cable TV charges had been claimed on their expenses.
Harrison said he only learned about it after the Sun raised the issue with board staff and he subsequently repaid the charges.
Matlow was unaware of the situation.
"This never should have happened," Puri said when the Sun pointed out the charges. "It's a wakeup call for us."
MILEAGE CHARGES
Cary-Meagher, even though she lives in the Beaches, also managed to far outspend every trustee on mileage, logging $3,000 in charges.
While Harrison comes from much farther away, his mileage charges were only $1,674.
Several trustees expensed charges for "professional development," most involving trips to education-related conferences.
Coteau, the current board vice-chairman, expensed a French course at Centennial College as well as his textbooks.
He said the course was approved as legitimate professional development because he has a French immersion school in his ward and because as chairman of the board's program and school services committee, which includes the board's French programs, "I just thought it would be good to have a stronger understanding of French."
Until this year, TDSB trustees were entitled to $10,200 for general expenses, such as meetings, telephone and cellphone equipment and services outside the board's own phone plan, incidental office supplies and travel expenses.
Provincial education funds, however, only allocate $5,000 per trustee. TDSB policy also entitles trustees to an extra $18,100 to hire a constituency assistant. As well, trustees can access a $33,200 budget for professional development and $130,600 in professional fees.
Recently, trustees voted to merge their general expense and constituency assistant budgets, so can access up to $30,000 to use for either function as they see fit.
All trustee expenses must be approved by the board's chairman.
"From what I've seen, I haven't seen abuse," said TDSB chairman John Campbell, who has been signing off on expenses since January.
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BEST AND WORST
TOP 3 SPENDERS:
- Sheila Ward ($11,910 trustee/$15,887 chairman)
- Sheila Cary-Meagher ($15,114)
- Michael Coteau ($13,469)
TOP 3 PENNY-PINCHERS:
- Howard Goodman ($2,609)
- John Campbell ($3,019)
- Mari Rutka ($5,705)
HEAVY DUTY TALKERS(Phone/cellphone expenses):
- Sheila Ward ($6,921 plus $1,200 as chair)
- Chris Bolton ($5,400)
- Josh Matlow ($4,670)