In the weeks after losing their re-election bids last fall, four city councillors charged taxpayers to outfit their personal vehicles with new tires, just-released expense records show.

The expense claims, made public in records reviewed this weekend by The Free Press, indicate a quartet of London politicians — Joe Swan, Sandy White, Bud Polhill and Stephen Orser — had their wheels upgraded in the period between their Oct. 27 election-night defeats and Dec. 1, when they formally left office.

The claims are legitimate under city hall’s expense guidelines, which were tightened amid perceived abuses during the past term. But the timing is jaw-dropping, says one former politician.

“It just looks bad,” said Gina Barber, who drew attention to the end-of-term expense filings this weekend on her blog. “It looks like they are quite teed off about losing and they’re just saying, I’ll show you.”

Attempts to reach Orser, White and Polhill were unsuccessful Sunday.

Swan, however, made it clear he’s not talking about it.

“I don’t have any comment,” he told The Free Press. “I’m out of public office now, thanks.”

And that’s kind of the point: Swan and the other tire buyers were technically done with council after being beaten Oct. 27. But they formally stayed in office until Dec. 1, when the new council took over.

In the intervening weeks, the expenses — now public under city disclosure rules — were incurred:

On Nov. 3, 2014, Orser filed a claim for $673.37 for “tires”

On Nov. 12, White filed a claim of $1,458.40 for “fuel (January to August), an oil change and tires.”

On Nov. 19, Polhill claimed $813.61 for “tires and fuel.”

On Nov. 26, Swan filed for $1,000.68 for “parking, fuel and tires.”

Each city councillor gets $15,000 a year for expenses.

The city hall policy says “expenses related to normal wear and tear on the primary vehicle used for city business such as gas receipts, oil changes, tires, brakes” are eligible for repayment.

So, none of the four overstepped the rules, but the public perception may be damning.

By contrast, Paul Van Meerbergen, who like the Freewheeling Four was a Fontana 8 voting bloc member defeated on election night, filed no unusual expenses during his final weeks in office.

Swan, who represented east-end Ward 3 last term, finished third in the mayoral race. Polhill, a 26-year veteran, lost east-end Ward 1 seat to underdog Michael van Holst. White was beaten in south-end Ward 14 by Jared Zaifman. Orser lost in east-of-downtown Ward 4 to Jesse Helmer.

While she stopped short of calling for further changes to the councillors’ spending rules, one rookie politician shook her head at the end-of-term expenses filed by some of her predecessors.

“It’s not something I would choose to do,” Coun. Virginia Ridley said. “I don’t think it was a wise move.”

According to one large retailer’s website, a set of four high-end tires would cost about $700 before taxes.

patrick.maloney@sunmedia.ca

dale.carruthers@sunmedia.ca