By Greg Fry

City Hall

Mayor Yu responds to report on overspending

Dec 13, 2023 | 3:17 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — Prince George Mayor Simon Yu is under fire not showing restraint when it comes to spending taxpayers money.

A new report by the CBC shows that his budget for travel, meals, entertainment and accommodation from November 7 2022 to September 28 2023 totalled more than $18,000, nearly double the $9,500 the city had budgeted for those expenses.

The report reveals documents show spending on trips to Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and a first class stay at a deluxe suite at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa.

There was also over $4,000 in meal expenses, mostly at restaurants in Prince George.

CKPG News caught up with Mayor Yu Wednesday for an explanation and he said the report didn’t take into account he took a $5,000 allowance for renovating the mayor’s office and instead put it towards his travel duties as mayor.

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“I used the $5,000 for travel because I realized we have to put more money into that category because if just costs a lot more to travel these days. So with all my trips, I want citizens to know there were no personal trips and they were all for City business.

“But having said that perhaps I need to examine the budget carefully this year to see if we can as a team, see if there’s trips that I don’t need to take. But for the first year as a new mayor, I need to go to all the events to know what the value of them are.”

For Yu’s full response, click the video link below: