Both Rob and Doug Ford will start their new campaigns with fresh spending limits, but the junior Ford’s aborted mayoral run leaves behind a snake’s nest of financial rules to contend with.

Rob’s withdrawal financially signifies the end of his mayoral run. All campaign contributions and expenses incurred are locked in to that particular run, and cannot be transferred to Rob’s Ward 2 bid or to his brother’s attempt.

“If Rob Ford has a surplus, meaning that the money he collected in excess of the money he spent, that surplus must be turned over to the municipality and he starts a new campaign with nothing at all, just like any other person,” said Bernard Nayman, a municipal-finance expert and chartered accountant. Nayman says Rob must wrap up the campaign like any other — accounting for every penny and placard.

Both of the Fords will have the full spending cap available while many of their competitors have already burned up much of it in the early months. Doug will be allowed to spend about $1.3-million in his six-week run for mayor, while Rob will have to come in under the Ward 2 limit, which is an estimated $33,112, according to city documents.

Election infrastructure assembled for Rob’s campaign, including the headquarters, phones, computers, staff and other expenses incurred, can’t simply be used by Doug. The resources must be purchased formally by his campaign, according to Ken Froese, of Froese Forensic Partners.

“He’d have to pay for whatever the value was of that infrastructure, maybe based on the cost at the start of the campaign that Rob had. But you can’t just assume something for nothing — it has to be at market rates,” said Froese.

“I would argue, if anybody ever asked me, if he walks in and takes over the infrastructure without paying for it, Rob Ford is making a contribution to his brother to the extent of the value of what he’s taking over, which is way in excess of $2,500,” said Nayman.

People who contributed to Rob’s erstwhile campaign will still be eligible to receive a tax rebate on their donation. The Fords recently hosted a $300 per plate fundraiser at which Doug invited reporters to come in and help count the money. All of that money must go toward expenses incurred by Rob’s mayoral run, or it will flow into the city’s coffers after the Oct. 27 election.

Future fundraising efforts must adhere to contribution rules. Each donor can only give $5,000 in total during a given election period. Donations to individual candidates are capped at $2,500 for mayoral candidates and $750 for would-be councillors. People who contributed the maximum to Rob’s mayoral bid would still be eligible to contribute to his council run.

However, candidates are free to spend their own money, so long as the overall campaign spending limit is observed.

“It would pose a greater challenge if you weren’t able to self-finance. The Fords seem to be able to self-finance so it would be less of a problem,” said Ralph Lean, a Conservative lawyer and leading political fundraiser who backed George Smitherman in 2010.

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