How much of your money did city councillors spend last year, and on what?

We've combed through the council expenses for 2023. Here are some highlights: 

Top 3 spenders: 

1. Ward 4 Coun. Susan Stevenson spent $24,626 
2. Ward 11 Coun. Skylar Franke spent $21,749
3. Ward 2 Coun. Shawn Lewis spent  $16,685

Top 3 spendthrifts:

1. Ward 14 Coun. Steve Hillier spent $92
2. Ward 10 Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen spent $264
3. Ward 8 Coun. Steve Lehman spent $8,801

Those totals include money spent on everyday items such as office supplies, City of London merchandise given out to constituents, and attending some conferences as part of their duties, including the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conferences. 

It also includes cash for a one-time annual ward-wide mail out allocated to each councillor, based on how big their ward is. The more constituents in a ward, the more money a councillor gets for postage.

What did they spend the money on?

Here's a ward-by-ward look at some of the things that jumped out at us going through the expenses. You can find the full expense list here and see for yourself. 

Ward 1 Coun. Hadleigh McAlister 

• Biggest expense was for a national conference on ending homelessness in Halfax, which cost $3,650, followed by just over $1,100 to rent out the Glen Cairn pool for a four-day ward outreach event. 

Ward 2 Coun. Shawn Lewis

• One of council's top spenders, Lewis' spending included a lot on ward outreach such as pool rentals, community swims and advertising for a Canada Day event. Candy for the Santa Claus parade cost the councillor $148.

Ward 3 Coun. Peter Cuddy 

• A big chunk of cash — more than $5,100 — went to a company called OCV Strategy, used for things such as website and social media management, consulting services and Nationbuilder, a software program that allows councillors to reach constituents via text and email. OCV Strategy, which features London city hall on its website homepage, calls itself a "leading consulting firm in London, Ontario" that serves clients across the country. Cuddy also expensed $40 for a meeting of the Macdonald Cartier Club featuring Oxford MP Arpan Khanna. The club bills itself as "London's conservative grass roots." 

Ward 4 Coun. Susan Stevenson 

• Council's biggest spender also expensed work done by OCV Strategy, but she spent a lot of money on office supplies. Over the year, it amounted to just over $3,000 for things like charging cables, a ring light, day planner and iPad bag, calendar, printer toner, whiteboard markers and an easel. Stevenson also spent $300 on t-shirts from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. No telling which t-shirts she bought, but some of those for sale include slogans such as 'Beer Tax Sux,' 'Scrap the Carbon Tax,' and 'Vote for lower taxes' 

Ward 5 Coun. Jerry Pribil

• Pribil also pays OCV Strategy for digital consulting, social media management and website design. Much of his spending went to a hotel during the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Toronto, though some was also spent on office supplies such as an Apple pencil and cables and Apple Airpods.

Ward 6 Coun. Sam Trosow 

• Trosow's biggest expense was also the hotel stay at the Federation of Municipalities conference in Toronto. He also spent $92 on business cards and $506 on gifts and souvenirs for constituents, such as golf umbrellas and City of London tote bags. 

Ward 7 Coun. Corrine Rahman 

• Rahman's spending is about the middle-of-the pack of councillors. She hired an assistant, and spent $85 on Santa parade candy, $27 for golf shirts and $22 for City of London lapel pins. 

Ward 8 Coun. Steve Lehman 

• One of the most frugal councillors, Lehman did most of his spending on events, such as an Iftar Dinner, the London Urban Design Awards and the 2023 Breakfast of Champions. He did spend cash on Christmas cards and $29.97 on an executive lunch and learn with Stephen Bolton, the president and CEO of Libro Credit Union. 

Ward 9 Coun. Anna Hopkins 

• Hopkins also attended many events, including a Ramadan dinner, a Pride Shabbat Dinner and a women's leadership conference. A lot of cash was spent on printing and mailing out postcards about the multi-year budget. 

Ward 10 Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen

• Long known as one of the councillors who doesn't like to spend money, Van Meerbergen's expenses are short and sweet. He spent $111 on a City of London flag, and $70 each on an out-of-country data plan and a ticket to the State of the City address.

Ward 11 Coun. Skylar Franke

• One of the highest spenders on council, Franke spent a large chunk of money to pay an assistant. She spent some money on coffee, hot chocolate and snacks for ward skating events, as well as $72 for freezies and bubbles for the Old South Gathering on the Green event, as well as $50 for wildflower seed packets for an outreach booth at the Thames Talbot land trust. 

Ward 12 Coun. Elizabeth Peloza 

• Sounds like Peloza's ward meetings are a hoot: she spent $92 on a giant Connect 4 and bean bag toss games for ward meetings. She also forked out cash for City of London water bottles, fleece blankets, ball caps and umbrellas. 

Ward 13 Coun. David Ferreira 

• Like other concillors, Ferreira paid an assistant. He spent $900 on a meeting room rental at Goodwill Industries and, like some other councillors, $21.47 for a City of London hard hat. 

Ward 14 Coun. Steve Hillier 

• Officially the most frugal of all the city councillors, Hillier expensed a 36 cent charge to laminate an infrastructure map at the city of London printing room. He spent $92 on City of London umbrellas and padfolios.