Prince George city council spent a combined $22,445.41 in travel- and event-related expenses in the last half of 2024, according to documents presented at the Monday, Feb. 3 council meeting.
Council’s expense reports for the third and fourth quarters of 2024 were made public during the meeting.
Here’s what each council member spent, ranked from highest to lowest total expenses:
- Coun. Trudy Klassen: $5,630.94
- Coun. Tim Bennett: $3,929.98
- Coun. Garth Frizzell: $3,426.26
- Coun. Ron Polillo: $3,161.92
- Coun. Kyle Sampson: $3,027.40
- Coun. Cori Ramsay: $2,426.09
- Coun. Brian Skakun: $832.82
- Coun. Susan Scott: No expenses claimed
- Mayor Simon Yu: No expenses claimed
Bennett went to the Union of BC Municipalities convention in Vancouver in September at a total cost of $3,929.98.
Frizzell also went to the UBCM convention with $3,436.26 in expenses.
Klassen went to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ annual general meeting in Calgary in June and the UBCM conference (combined cost of $5,473.44) as well as the mental health and addictions forum hosted by the City of Prince George ($157.50)
Polillo travelled to the UBCM conference at a cost of $3,161.92.
Ramsay claimed $2,426.09 in expenses for the UBCM convention.
Sampson participated in the UBCM convention and claimed $3,027.40 in expenses.
Skakun’s only travel expense was $832.82 for the UBCM convention.
Yu and Scott made no travel-related expense claims in the last half of the year.
During the Feb. 3 meeting, council voted to accept the third- and fourth-quarter reports but did not discuss them.
Councillors had a $8,000 expense budget in 2024, though that number has been boosted to $10,000 for 2025. Yu’s travel budget received a $4,000 boost.
