Transcona councillor Russ Wyatt's claims for reimbursement related to business meetings held at Winnipeg restaurants were twice as high than those of every other city councillor combined.

Wyatt billed the city $6,776 last year for restaurants while the combined claims for the 14 other councillors totaled $3,348, according to the city report on annual ward allowance expenditures published today.

Peasant Cookery was Wyatt's top choice for 2015. He billed for seven meetings at the Exchange area restaurant. His biggest bill—$444.83—was from the Keg for an East End Community Club meeting in February.

More than nine per cent of Wyatt's claimed expenses were for hospitality and meetings, a category which may include meals and beverages, non-professional sporting events and venue rental, according to policy. Alcohol is not a reimbursable expense.

This spending trend is consistent with a CBC News report from last year that found Wyatt expensed nearly 11 times more money for business meetings at restaurants than the next closest spender.

Wyatt has yet to respond to a request for comment from CBC News.

The big picture

Ward allowances cover a wide range of expenses beside hospitality including salaries for assistants, telephone bills, office equipment, sponsorships of community events and advertising.

Wyatt's total claim for all categories of expenses came to $74,818, a little higher than the average of all councillors.

The report found all councillors followed the ward allowance policy and no one went over their budgeted spending limit of $79,924. The average amount spent was $72,700 which means councillors spent only $1.14 million of the $1.28 million budgeted.

A portion of the unspent money will be carried forward to 2016, while $56,190 will be returned to the city's general revenues.

Top 3:

Mike Pagtakhan (Point Douglas): $79,850

John Orlikow (River Heights - Fort Garry): $79,364

Ross Eadie (Mynarski): $78,832

Bottom 3:

Jason Schreyer (Elmwood - East Kildonan ): $67,456

): $67,456 Matt Allard (St. Boniface): $64,747

Shawn Dobson (St. Charles): $64,117

*Excludes supplemental allowances providing to chairs and EPC members

Some other big spends

In most cases, the largest expense from each ward allowance is related to salaries and benefits for assistants and office staff.

However in some cases, councillors dip into their fund for a host of other items, such as:

A $5,000 donation to the Dufferin Residents Association for Street Patrol and Safe Walk (Ross Eadie).

Advertising worth $3,500 in Canstar newspapers (John Orlikow).

Free city facility admissions for children, at a cost of $2,400 (Shawn Dobson).

Printing of calendar-cards for $2,200 (Russ Wyatt).

In addition to posting the audited councillor ward allowance statements, the city auditor made recommendations in his report geared to improving administrative processes.