Taxpayer watchdog slams council decision

2008 High Prairie Town Council Expenses

Chris Clegg
South Peace News

A watchdog organization advocating the right of taxpayers to know how their money is being spent is criticizing High Prairie town council for refusing to disclose its spending habits.

South Peace News requested the 2008 salary of High Prairie town manager Larry Baran and how much money council spent on meals during noon meetings in 2008.

Town treasurer Herman Minderlein says Baran’s salary will not be disclosed until the audit is released to council later this year.

Meanwhile, Baran and Minderlein did not respond at all to the request for meal expenses.

“There is no legal requirement unless you file a FOIP form but this is all public information,” says Scott Hennig, Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. ”This is taxpayer’s money, not their money.”

Hennig adds the figures for both Baran’s salary and meals should be a simple disclosure.

“That seems like a brush-off.”

Hennig says the trend in federal and municipal government is to actually disclose more information, not less.

“A lot of municipalities are moving to routine disclosures,” says Hennig. “The Alberta government discloses flight records and the government puts them on-line. The mayor of Calgary’s travel is put on-line in a PDF format.”

The Town of High Prairie puts none of its expenses on its website.

Hennig also criticizes Minderlein for forcing South Peace News to go through the FOIP process.

“Some want to be stringent or make you go through the process,” says Hennig. “But in the end, it will cost them. It’s timely and it’s costly for government to hide it. Some just hope you won’t go through the process. They love putting you through the process.

“When it comes to media, I think they need to be whole lot more open and generous,” adds Hennig. “I think (town council) should clearly give you the information. It’s public information anyway.

“The request you’re making is not a difficult document. Every citizen has the right to ask for this information,” concludes Hennig.

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