Gas station purchases in Brampton were charged to Mayor Susan Fennell’s city-issued credit card on dates when she appears to have been out of the country, documents obtained by the Star reveal.

Multiple gas station charges in Brampton on the same day, and up to three separate gas station charges in a week averaging about $65, also appear on the mayor’s credit card statements, obtained by the Star under freedom of information law. The statements do not identify the vehicle or what specifically the charges were for.

On March 19, 2007, while Fennell was apparently in Miami, a charge for $72.10 appears on her credit card from a Petro Canada station in Brampton.

Fennell was asked if she possibly arrived back from Florida on the same day and then made the charge in Brampton.

The mayor’s spokesperson, Michael Genova, responded in an email Tuesday without addressing that possibility, saying only that “This is a billing process issue” — repeating exactly what Fennell said last week when asked about multiple single-day charges and multiple charges in a single week at gas stations.

A second gas station charge in Brampton appears on a date when she was apparently in Florida on the same day.

On May 17, 2007, two charges appear on Fennell’s credit card at a Miami Beach hotel. On the same day there is a charge for $74.63 at an Esso station in Brampton.

It’s unclear if any of Fennell’s gas station charges were reimbursed to the city.

The Star learned last week that since the start of 2007, Fennell and her staff charged $622,000 on their city-issued credit cards for airfare, hotels, groceries, LCBO purchases, Via rail travel, 407 highway tolls, drugstore purchases, newspaper subscriptions, jewelry, department store purchases and other items.

Most of the taxpayer-covered expenses were for city business. As of four weeks ago, about $45,000 had been reimbursed: $24,294 by Fennell’s private gala, $10,680 by Fennell herself and $6,009 by Sandra Carpino, who handles Fennell’s scheduling. It’s not clear what specific charges the reimbursements were for.

The Star has asked Fennell to explain many of those charges — including some of the more than 260 charges, totalling about $16,000, that were made at gas stations.

Brampton councillors told the Star there could be a reasonable explanation if multiple gas station charges were indeed for different fill-ups on the same day, for example if the mayor travelled a long distance for a meeting.

But they questioned why Fennell — who drives a city-leased Lincoln Navigator —would have such charges while she also has a $49,000-a-year limousine service.

“That limo service works out to about 1,600 hours a year,” said Councillor John Sprovieri. “We have done the math. That service takes her to all her meetings. What we want to know is why the Brampton taxpayer is paying almost $50,000 a year for her limo service on top of all these gas charges.”

Councillor Elaine Moore said Fennell’s limo service works out to just over 40 hours a week, when you factor out all the time the mayor is outside the province or country.

“She also has literally hundreds of gas charges for her $1,400-a-month Lincoln SUV that taxpayers are also paying for.”

Councillors said they have been poring over Fennell’s credit card statements since they received them Thursday.

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“To have more than one gas (station) charge for different amounts on the same day doesn’t make sense,” Moore said.

She listed numerous questions councillors are preparing for Fennell to answer ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s council meeting, if she is able to attend.

The mayor released a statement two weeks ago saying her priority for the next while would be helping her husband recover from open-heart surgery.

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