In 2015 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam spent $30,456 from her constituency services and office budget, the most among all 44 councillors at City Hall. The vast majority of that ($19,222) paid for communication initiatives and activities in her busy downtown ward, Toronto Centre Rosedale.

The left-leaning councillor represents one of the most commercially dense and active regions of the city, with an extremely young population. Stats Canada data reveals the majority of her constituents are between 25 and 34.

 

On average councillors spent $19,871 from their constituency services and office budgets. Money here is used to pay for office expenses and ward activities. Stephen Holyday (Etobicoke Centre) was the most frugal in these two areas. In 2015 he used only $1,047—a fraction of what nearly all other elected officials at City Hall spent that year.
Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon (Beaches – East York) spent $25,866 with $17,856 of that filed under “Constituency and Business Meetings”. The City of Toronto provides a detailed breakdown of how councillors spend in this category, including scans of invoices. Records show McMahon used much of her funds here hosting summer movie nights in her ward, each costing around $2,000.

But office and constituency expenses represent only a small fraction of the pie when it comes to total spending. The entire budget for all 44 councillors is $20.9 million. “Some get a little more of the budget depending on the size of their ward,” said Jackie DeSouza, the city’s Director of Strategic Communications.

 

Each councillor received around $475,000 in total spending. Last year none of them reached that figure; however, some came close. In 2015, Councillor John Filion (Willowdale) was the most generous with his budget at $459,014. That amount—as with all councillors—represents salaries and benefits for him and his support staff along with all expenses tied to ward and committee business.

On average councillors spent $381,861 in 2015 with most of it going to pay support staff. Their own salaries are set at around $135,000 per year.

But the mayor’s budget eclipsed all others within council. In 2015, he spent $1,971,807 from a total allowable of $2.3 million. This was more than quadruple the council average. Salaries for his support staff are his biggest expenditure: 83%. He spent 7 times more here ($1,637,016) than the council average ($208,982).