A controversial policy that lets Burnaby politicians golf for free will remain in place – for now.
Burnaby city council voted 5-4 Monday to table a proposal that would have slashed the city’s complimentary pass program for past and present mayors, councillors and parks commissioners, as well as current school trustees and library board members.
The program gives members free access to the city’s leisure facilities, including its two golf courses – Burnaby Mountain and Riverway.
In 2014, the NOW revealed 19 people used the waiver program to waive a total of $41,905 in charges the previous year.
Parks commissioner Wayne Peppard made the most use of the program in 2013, with $7,898 worth of golf. Then-mayor Derek Corrigan had the highest golf usage on council, with a $5,718 bill.
Other big spenders that year included Coun. Colleen Jordan ($4,674), then-school trustee and current councillor James Wang ($3,518), Parks commissioner Lee Loftus ($2,678) and Coun. Paul McDonell ($2,633).
Despite the scrutiny that came with the NOW’s 2014 coverage, use has not slowed down since. City documents provided to the NOW by the city show $38,490 was waived in 2014, $47,118 in 2015, $53,344 in 2016, $49,912 in 2017 and $48,846 in 2018.
The city did not identify who used the program between 2014 and 2018.
The vast majority of the charges came from the two golf courses, with the rest coming from the city’s recreation centres.
On Monday, council was set to vote on proposed changes that would have discontinued the program for former council members; former commissioners; people nominated by council members and commissioners; and all members of the library board and board of education.
If the staff report had passed, it would have also capped the waivers at $1,500 annually per member, including their guests. The program currently has a total annual cap of $55,000, which would have been removed due to the new individual caps.
The proposed changes would have come into effect in 2020.
“The complimentary pass program has been increasingly scrutinized by the public because it can be seen as excessive and because it has expanded beyond its original purpose,” a city staff report says.
During last year’s civic election, Corrigan’s use of the waiver program was featured in an attack ad from the International Association of Fire Fighters.
A “Fields not Fees” webpage created by the union read: “Some politicians put their constituents first. Some politicians would say no to taxpayer funded golf. Some politicians ask ‘what does my community want?’ Some politicians would put soccer fields for residents before free golf for themselves. But some politicians aren’t Derek Corrigan.”
Before council could vote on the changes, McDonell moved to table them and ask staff to survey surrounding municipalities on whether they have similar programs.
Councillors Jordan, Nick Volkow, Dan Johnston and James Wang voted for McDonell’s motion. Mayor Mike Hurley and councillors Pietro Calendino, Sav Dhaliwal and Joe Keithley were opposed.
“It’s not fair for a certain amount of people to get this break and free passes,” Keithley said. “I mean, how many times do you need to golf in a year?”
City staff are expected to gather information from other Metro Vancouver cities before reporting back to council at a future meeting.
