By Kelsey Bent | Listowel Banner
Perth County councillors might have been mistaken for a group of epicures with a refined taste in food, as they unanimously voted to increase the meal reimbursement policy to $85 per day.
The amount represented an increase from a staff recommendation of $70 per day.
While presenting the changes to the reimbursement of expenses and corporate credit card policy, Coun. Rhonda Ehgoetz said the amount designated for meal reimbursement was insufficient.
“Twenty dollars doesn’t even get you a meal now-a-days, shouldn’t that be something a little higher?” Ehgoetz asked.
Treasurer Corey Bridges replied that the policy rates are based on municipally-set benchmarks and per-diems. He reiterated that the policy reimburses $20 for breakfast, $20 for lunch and $30 for dinner, totalling $70 per day.
“Pooling is also available, for example if they only get a lunch or a dinner they can spend $50, meaning if you spend a little less at lunch you can spend more on dinner,” he added.
Ehgoetz repeated that “$20 wont buy you a breakfast.”
“I still think we can make them a little higher,” she added.
Coun. Todd Kasenberg voiced his agreement.
“I agree with Coun. Ehgoetz’s commentary, I think it is increasingly difficult to acquire breakfast for $20, and certainly I have taken note of that as frankly I am a fan of fast food,” he admitted. “Even in the fast food environment, it is pretty hard to hit those targets at this point.”
Kasenberg recognized that the $20 for breakfast and lunch is a benchmark for other municipalities, but said. “Maybe we are all wrong.”
“My push back to staff on this is, maybe you bench marked it, but maybe we are all wrong,” he said. “So I would suggest this council does need to look at, especially the breakfast and lunch meals, where it is increasingly difficult to get a meal for $20.”
A motion was made by Ehgoetz to make breakfast and lunch both $25, and dinner $35. The motion was seconded by Kasenberg and passed unanimously.
Before the vote, Coun. McKenzie explained that often conferences provide food.
“The only time that you would probably have three meals included was if you were at a conference or a convention and most of the time they are provided,” he said. “You might not get a dinner at night but certainly a breakfast or lunch would be provided. Maybe we are reading into this a bit more than what is needed. But if you want to adjust them to be more appropriate, fine.”
These changes took effect Jan. 1, 2025.
Other concerns
Although not included in the motion, Ehgoetz also voiced her concerns with changes to the Human Resources policies.
Ehgoetz asked why it was needed to list who is also attending meetings and using expenses.
“When I do my mayor’s log, I just put down that I met with a ratepayer, I don’t list who I met with,” she stated. “You want staff to list who, is there a lack of trust here or I’m just trying to understand why we need to know. If they are responsible enough to have a card should they not be responsible enough to decide who they are going to be taking out and who they are not. They can do an FOI (Freedom of Information request) to find that information out anyway, so to me it is against the privacy act to list the names of who they are taking out.”
HR Generalist Krystal Holmes answered simply that it is for transparency.
“It would allow for more transparency as to who was at the meeting, this would not apply to certain hospitality events, it’s more along the lines of if it was at a meeting and someone was picking up that tab,” she explained.
