Mayor Simon Yu claimed more expenses in the first half of 2025 than he did in the entirety of 2024, according to documents attached to the agenda for the Monday, Aug. 18 meeting of Prince George City Council.
Included with the meeting agenda are expense reports for each member of city council, one for the first quarter of 2025 and another for the second quarter.
Combined, council claimed $37,321.62 in reimbursed expenses or prepared expenses incurred by the City of Prince George on their behalf.
The mayor listed $6,783.90 in expenses for the first quarter of 2025 and $6,079.18 for the second quarter for a total of $12,863.08.
In the city’s Statement of Financial Information for 2024, compensation for each member of council is listed, including salaries, expenses and benefits.
According to the statement, Yu claimed $12,779.01 in expenses for the entirety of 2024. However, the statement does note that the listed figures do include a GST rebate where applicable.
Unlike councillors, the mayor’s expense limit isn’t set in a bylaw. Instead, it’s set as a line item in each year’s budget. In 2025, that line item was set at $22,800, meaning Yu has about $10,000 left to spend in the second half of this year.
Here’s what the other eight members of council spent, in order of most to least expenses claimed:
- Coun. Kyle Sampson: $6,785.55 ($2,901.99 in Q1 and $3,883.56 in Q2),
- Coun. Cori Ramsay: $5,151.23 ($175 in Q1 and $4,976.23 in Q2),
- Coun. Ron Polillo: $4,172.32 ($1,671.16 in Q1 and $2,501.16 in Q2),
- Coun. Trudy Klassen: $3,884.90 ($1,377.10 in Q1 and $2,507.80 in Q2)
- Coun. Garth Frizzell: $2,505.52 ($100 in Q1 and $2,405.52 in Q2)
- Coun. Brian Skakun: $1,018.15 ($805 in Q1 and $213.15 in Q2)
- Coun. Susan Scott: $137 ($0 in Q1 and $137 in Q2)
In previous years, councillors had a maximum expense limit of $8,000. For the 2025 budget, council voted to reduce its budget for economic development advocacy by $20,000 and increase their expense limit to $20,000.
The mayor had his expense limit go up by $4,000.
According to the 2024 SOFI, only Coun. Trudy Klassen exceeded her expense limit that year, racking up $8,247.48 that year.
It should be noted that the first and second quarter expense reports may not provide a full picture of council’s spending.
For example, Scott’s second-quarter expense summary references the fact that she participated in an advocacy trip to Victoria in late April and early May, but there are no expenses listed for accommodations or air fare.
Frizzell and Sampson were also part of the delegation and listed travel and accommodation expenses.
Another thing to note is that some councillors pre-pay for an event in one quarter but the trip itself happens in another quarter.
The mayor noted in his first-quarter summary that he had pre-paid or pre-registered for events taking place in both the second and third quarters of the year, as one example.
Also included with the meeting agenda were individual expense reports for the first half of 2025 for a select few staff members.
City manager Walter Babicz had the city cover $7,615.52 worth of expenses, including some related to attending the Victoria delegation, attending the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ 2025 annual general meeting in Ottawa, paying Law Society of BC membership fees and more.
Director of planning and buildings Deanna Wasnik had $3,977.01 in expenses covered, including the cost of a Planning Institute of BC webinar, a membership fee for the North Central Local Government Management Association and travel to Ottawa to attend the 2025 FCM AGM in Ottawa.
The city’s manager of legislative services, Ethan Anderson, had $1,692.25 in expenses covered by the city, which included items relating to membership in the North Central Local Government Management Association, training costs and membership in the Local Government Management Association.
Deputy corporate officer Leslie Kellett had $1,384 in expenses covered, including LGMA membership, Civic Info BC membership and three training courses on privacy.
Director of administrative services Eric Depenau had $1,059 in expenses covered, including course fees from the Justice Institute of BC paid for by the city’s professional growth program and membership charges for the LGMA.
Director of civic operations Blake McIntosh had $384.36 in expenses covered, including attendance at a human resources seminar and membership in the BC Fleet Operators Management Group.
Manager of civic facilities Andy Beesley and director of finance and IT services Kris Dalio each had their $25 membership fee for the NCLGMA covered by the city.
Ramsay noted that this was the first time this kind of report had been produced.
She moved for this report to be presented to council by the city manager in closed sessions going forward, as the spending reported by staff has already been approved by council during the budget process and the public’s scrutiny of staff could be a potential issue when it comes to recruitment and retention later going forward.
Scott said she agreed with Ramsay, saying that while the report was requested in good faith, there’s a better way of handling it.
Polillo said the transparency provided by expense reports is warranted for elected officials but not city staff.
Skakun said he thought the attempt to put the report behind closed doors is trying to circumvent council’s earlier motion ordering the report and said taxpayers deserve the transparency for both elected officials and staff.
Klassen agreed with Skakun, saying she thought it was a step backwards.
Frizzell said that while he thought the report was asked for with good intent, there wasn’t much in the report that council can base future decisions from and he didn’t think there was a need for it going forward.
Bennett asked staff how much time it took to develop the report. Director of finance and IT services Kris Dalio said there hadn’t been a process in place when the report was ordered and staff had to take some time to revise their expenses from the first half of the year.
Going forward, Dalio said, he thought it wouldn’t take as long to develop. He said his concern about the report is less about the time it takes and more about the effect on staff, as some employees said they were hesitant to take advantage of certain programs because of reporting requirements.
No other municipality in BC produces a report like this, Dalio said.
Ramsay’s motion passed, with Skakun, Klassen, Yu and Bennett voting against.
