Kamloops citizens are burdened with outrageous property taxes, and most other expenses are increasing faster than their income. While many employees pack a lunch for work, the same isn’t true for Kamloops City Council. They enjoy free meals and trips at taxpayer expense.
Free Meals
The City advised that Council meals are provided on Council and Committee of the Whole meeting days.
Free Trips
One of the Council’s recent trips was to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) annual conference in Ottawa. This was a 4 day event from May 29 to June 1, 2025.
Despite emailing citycouncil@kamloops.ca objecting to any more than 2 council members attending the event, 5 councillors attended. This included Councillor Bill Sarai, whose attendance I clearly noted my opposition to.
FCM Expenses
Here’s the numbers the City provided regarding the councillor’s expenses for this trip:
This of course left me with questions, which I sent to citycouncil@kamloops.ca:
Much to my surprise, Councillor Sarai responded to my email:
I did send numerous emails. 12 of them were follow ups looking for responses to emails I originally sent as far back as November 2024. Council directs us to send emails to citycouncil@kamloops.ca, but “service excellence” doesn’t seem to apply to responses.
Sarai’s reply leads to several other questions:
- Since when can a deputy mayor instruct staff? As per the letter Council presented to the Mayor in Dec 2022, “No elected official – not even the mayor – has the authority to direct municipal staff in the conduct of their official employment duties.”
- If Sarai wasn’t initially going, why did he feel his presence was necessary when his schedule cleared?
- Did Sarai not consider the additional expense related to last minute booking, and whether his attendance was worth it to the taxpayers?
- Does Sarai realize that having a budget does not obligate councillors to spend it all?
Where Did They Stay?
I’m assuming these councillors have heard of hotels.com, Expedia, etc. No one pays full price for a hotel anymore. So assuming we allow 5 nights for a 4 day conference, where did they stay to come up with these hotel expenses?
Why didn’t Bass and Bepple share a room? Why didn’t Sarai share a room with his whisper buddy Hall?
Fiscal Responsibility
I cringe whenever this council asks us to allow them to borrow more money. The expenses above are a great example of how Council manages a budget.
I’ve heard the word “bold” used in reference to Council’s last AAPs for the PAC and arena multiplex. Considering the definition “showing an ability to take risks; confident and courageous”, I suggest that it’s easy to be “bold” when you’re spending someone else’s money.
I’ll be a solid NO on the AAP for the new RCMP building. To be clear, I’m not against a new building. I’m against the poorly thought out plan.
Sarai Petition
Not thrilled with Sarai? Haven’t signed the petition for him to resign?
You can add your name here: Bill Sarai Must Resign From City Council
0 Comments