Documents show City of Charlottetown employee’s high spending on meals and luxury hotels
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has obtained paperwork indicating {that a} Metropolis of Charlottetown staffer violated the town’s expense coverage on dozens of events with overlapping meal expense claims and stays in luxurious lodges.
The watchdog group stated it recognized 48 situations indicating Charlottetown occasions improvement officer Wayne Lengthy claimed his meal allowance for meals that have been both reimbursed on a separate expense declare or included as a part of the occasion.
In a information launch, the federation stated Lengthy attended three totally different conferences the place meals have been offered as a part of the ticket value for a complete of 10 meals. Nonetheless, per diems have been collected on all 10 events.
In 38 situations, the federation stated Lengthy claimed pier diems on prime of already expensed meals for enterprise dinners or room service.
The overlapping per diem claims seem to have value Charlottetown taxpayers greater than $1,562 since April 2019, the federation stated.
Different paperwork acquired by the federation present Lengthy expensed $1,808.62 for two stays at the five-star JW Marriott Parq Hotel, in Vancouver, B.C., on the value of as much as $470 per night time.
The city’s travel policy states “use of luxurious lodging won’t be reimbursed.”
Different lodges expensed by Lengthy embody a $400 per-night room on the Le Germain resort in Quebec Metropolis and stays on the Westin Nova Scotian in Halifax.
“Charlottetown taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for an worker’s style for luxurious,” stated Renaud Brossard, interim Atlantic director of the federation. “If metropolis staff can repeatedly violate their expense coverage with impunity, what good does it do?”
The findings come after the federation launched paperwork on Could 26 indicating that Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown and metropolis councillors ignored metropolis expense insurance policies on the 2019 Federation of Canadian Municipalities Convention in Quebec Metropolis.
