Port Phillip Councillor repays childcare expenses following Freedom of Information probe
An inner-city councillor has been forced to repay childcare expenses after documents revealed he had claimed for hours of private babysitting when his son was at a cheaper council-run daycare centre.
Inner South
Don't miss out on the headlines from Inner South . Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Port Phillip councillor at the centre of a probe into childcare expenses has been forced to repay some of the ratepayers’ money he claimed.
It comes after Freedom of Information documents revealed Cr Ogy Simic claimed $245 for seven hours of private babysitting earlier this year, despite his infant son being signed into a $133 a day council-run childcare centre.
Quarterly expense reports released last week show Cr Simic has now paid back the $245.
The probe into Cr Simic’s childcare expenses was launched after he claimed $17,582 in babysitting fees between March 2018 and June 2019.
Now, he has repaid the $245 of ratepayers’ money.
The council had originally tried to block the release of the documents sought under Freedom of Information, but Cr Andrew fought to have them handed over via an appeal to the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner.
Cr Bond, who has previously called for “safeguards, controls and caps” to be slapped on councillor expense claims, said Port Phillip ratepayers “deserve better than having councillors continually misuse their travel and childcare allowances”.
“The repayment of this money by Cr Simic is a result of irregularities discovered … from an FOI request made late last year,” he said.
“I question why it has taken this long for a repayment to be made when the error was so clear.”
Cr Simic said he had chosen to pay back the money “to avoid any ambiguity”.
“I’m confident that I’ve acted in accordance with the council’s childcare policy but have opted to voluntarily pay back the money I claimed over those two days ... to avoid any ambiguity,” he said.
“Childcare is essential and if councils didn’t support councillors with childcare then they’d be restricting access to democracy for a large number of people.”
Meanwhile, Cr Marcus Pearl has repaid $4.20 after he accidentally used his council Myki for personal travel.
Cr Pearl said he had repaid the money in about January this year, immediately after realising his mistake. The repayment has only just been added to the expenses register.
Earlier this year, Cr Tim Baxter was forced to repay $2802 he had claimed in travel expenses.
The money was repaid after a Freedom of Information request was lodged into his costly travel claims.
In a Facebook post, Cr Baxter said he had made an honest mistake by using the wrong Myki card daily “thinking it was my personal card”.
Port Phillip councillors are paid an annual allowance of $33,491 and are eligible to be reimbursed for “reasonable” out-of-pocket expenses such as travel, training and childcare.
There is no cap on the amount a councillor can claim for childcare costs incurred in the course of their duties.
MORE:
COUNCIL BOSS FLEES INTERSTATE DURING CORONAVIRUS CRISIS