Mileage and federal conference expenses drove Area G Elef Christensen to have the second highest expense claim for elected officials at the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen.
Directors received a report detailing remuneration and expense amounts at last week’s RDOS meeting.
Christensen’s expenses came in just under RDOS chair Mark Pendergraft’s. Christensen received $11,017 for expenses while the chair who’s position is considered full-time received $12,294.
The bulk of Christensen’s expenses relate to mileage to meetings and for attending events/meetings around his riding for a total of $6,655.99.
Christensen also filed expenses for three conferences last year including Southern Interior Local Government Association held in Kamloops, $769.80; Union of BC Municipalities held in Victoria, $1,446.47 and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities held in Edmonton, Alberta for $1,727.04. Many of Christensen’s colleagues opt not to attend the federal conference as it’s expensive and might not be relevant to their area.
Christensen’s expenses also included $315 for the Local Government Leadership Academy and $103 for a Penticton hotel stay for back-to-back meetings in November.
In addition to expenses, Christensen also received remuneration of $28,214 for his work as an RDOS director.
Area G alternate Roger Mayer received $1,811 for remuneration and $288 for expenses when he filled in for Christensen at meetings or other events.
The top earner for elected RDOS officials was Pendergraft earning $60,456 with expenses of $12,294.
Claiming no expenses this year were Penticton councillors Andre Martin and Judy Sentes. Martin earned $13,097 while Sentes received renumeration of $13,908 for their work on the RDOS board last year.
Penticton Mayor and RDOS vice-chairman Andrew Jakubeit received $21,144 in renumeration and claimed just $390 for expenses.
In total elected officials for RDOS and their alternates received $420,125 in renumeration and were paid out $67,851 in accrued expenses.
Other director’s renumeration and expenses are as follows: Frank Armitage, Princeton, $14,966, expenses - $3,852; Manfred Bauer, Keremeos, $14,179, expenses - $1,730; Toni Boot, councillor Summerland, $13,154, expenses - $485; Michael Brydon, Area F, $28,677, expenses - $1,108; George Bush, Area B, $29,916, expenses - $5,317; Bob Coyne, Area H, $28,242, expenses - $4,886; Ron Hovanes, Oliver, $13,097, expenses - $1,150; Helena Konanz, Penticton, $13,023, expenses - $57; Karla Kozakevich, Area E, $31,326, expenses - $7,002; Suzan McKortoff, Osoyoos, $13,097, expenses - $1,694; Terry Schafer, Area C, $28,242, expenses - $6,793; Tom Siddon, Area D, $26,406, expenses- $4,417; Peter Waterman, Summerland, $13,154, expenses - $449.