Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell and her staff have expensed more than $185,000 in travel costs over the past five years — $50,000 of that in just the first 10 months of 2013.

Among those costs were dozens of first-class airfares and hotel stays, including a $1,847 ticket to Ottawa, $2,832 spent on four nights at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, and $5,975 for a flight to the Philippines, according to documents obtained by the Star.

Over the same January-October period in 2013, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford had no travel expenses at all, while Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion had $10,232 in travel expenses for her office.

Most of Fennell’s trips were for Federation of Canadian Municipalities meetings, to which, unlike other mayors, she often takes several staff.

Other examples of Fennell’s spending included a $1,847 “flight pass” to Saskatoon in October 2012 (the same $1,847 for airfare for each of her two staff on the trip); $2,069 for Fennell’s three-night stay at the Fairmont Empress hotel in Victoria, in spring 2009; and $3,030 for the mayor’s airfare to Iqaluit in September 2010. And she didn’t hesitate to charge the taxpayers for trifling items, for example expensing $2 for an airport luggage cart.

“I don’t know what she’s doing taking two staff to FCM meetings, flying first-class and staying at five-star hotels. It’s ridiculous,” said Councillor John Sprovieri, an outspoken critic since the scope of Fennell’s spending, salary and perqs began to be revealed in recent months.

The City of Brampton’s travel policy did allow her to expense the cost of first-class airfares only on flights over five hours, yet there were about four dozen first-class fares billed for herself and her staff on much shorter trips.

A spokesperson for Fennell responded to questions about this by saying that “Airfare for these destinations was booked using flight passes.”

Fennell was also asked to account for several unexplained airfare expenses, such as nine “Prepaid Flight Passes” totalling almost $13,000, which were expensed in December 2011. No specific travel dates or destinations were listed for these charges in the documents provided by the city under freedom of information law.

Fennell stated that the flight passes were used to transport her and her staff to meetings across the country, but offered no details. “Meetings are held in communities throughout Canada,” she said in an email Monday.

“It’s kind of embarrassing that all this happened on our watch,” said Councillor Elaine Moore in response to the latest revelations. “When I read the mayor’s travel expenses it’s like, wow! …

“We took some measures during the recent budget deliberations, but clearly we should have had a handle on this before. Taxpayers are really angry. This is just more reason to get the audit done as soon as possible.”

In 2012, Fennell was Canada’s highest-paid mayor, earning more than $213,000 in combined salaries from the city and Peel Region.

Documents released in November and since obtained by the Star showed Fennell charged taxpayers more than $186,000 in discretionary expenses in less than three years for items such as $1,500 worth of orchestra tickets, $1,300 Mandarin lessons, $2,100 for barbecue aprons personalized with her name, and $1 for an iTunes download. That figure didn’t include the bulk of her transportation spending.

Outraged councillors unanimously voted for a forensic audit of Fennell’s spending, and of their own much more limited spending.

After learning that she’d flown first-class to Asia three times in four months, council ended all first-class air travel, regardless of distance. Councillors also cut her discretionary expenses by almost 70 per cent, and tried to chop $10,000 from her annual car allowance after it was learned taxpayers are covering the lease for her $1,400-a-month Lincoln Navigator SUV. (Staff later said the city is stuck with the lease.) Fennell also has a taxpayer-funded $46,000-a-year limousine driver service.

But these latest travel expense revelations, Sprovieri says, have pushed things “way too far.”

“I went on the trip to India (in January 2013). I flew economy with Brampton residents I recognized on that trip. The mayor said, ‘Why don’t you let me upgrade your seat to first class?’”

Fennell charged taxpayers an extra $3,200 to upgrade her seat to India.

“What kind of disrespect for the taxpayers who are paying for your ticket does that show?” Sprovieri said. “And who flies for $1,800 to Ottawa — a 40-minute flight? Even smart businesspeople who value a dollar earned wouldn’t think of doing that.”

“We need to get this audit done to find out what else this mayor has been up to, living high on the taxpayers’ back.”

On Thursday, the day registration opened, Fennell was the first candidate to register for the 2014 mayoral race. She’s seeking her fifth term.

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Highlights of Fennell’s travels

3-night stay at Fairmont Empress Hotel, Victoria, B.C.: $2069

4-night stay at Fairmont Chateau Whistler Hotel: $2832

4-night stay for two staff at Fairmont Chateau Whistler: $3150

5-night stay at Sheraton Centre Toronto: $1743

Airfare to Iqaluit: $3030 (for chief of staff on same trip: $1734)

Airfare to Manila: $5975 (for chief of staff on same trip: $2396)

Airfare to Saskatoon: $1847

Airfare to Bagotville, Que.: $1847

Airfare to Ottawa: $1847

3-night stay for Fennell's chief of staff at Delta Hotel, Saskatoon: $2374

Airfare to Montreal: $732 (for each of the two staff who went with her: $732)

Steak dinner at Hy's restaurant, Ottawa, for Fennell and two staff: $310

Airport luggage cart: $2

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