Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell knowingly and repeatedly broke council rules by overspending public money on work-related travel, the city’s integrity commissioner has concluded.

In a report released on Friday, watchdog Robert Swayze details "a large and costly apparatus totally dedicated to [Fennell’s] travel and that of her staff" and says the mayor’s office violated city policy by splurging on premium plane tickets and hotel rooms.

"I find that the Mayor has violated the Code by knowingly over-spending on her business travel on multiple occasions with the intention to upgrade to business class contrary to City policy," the report reads.

Swayze's report comes less than a month after the accounting firm Deloitte released a 96-page forensic audit that alleged Fennell’s office had racked up at total of $130,000 in expenses that violated city policy. Fennell and her staff are now the subject of a police review of their spending practices amid increasing public outcry in Brampton and across the Greater Toronto Area.

In his new report, Swayze paid special attention to the purchase of plane tickets for Fennell and her staff. On at least eight occasions over a five-year period, the mayor’s entourage travelled on city business using Air Canada Latitude tickets, fares that provide flyers with increased flexibility if they wish to make changes to their booking, the integrity commissioner reported.

In his discussions with Fennell, Swayze said, "she argues that it is frequently necessary for her to change her flights because of her frenetic schedule and these passes cost less for changes and cancellations than if she had purchased a ticket."

I believe that this level of pass was purchased by the Mayor or her staff with her approval, solely because they are freely upgradeable to business class. —Robert Swayze, Brampton's integrity commissioner

However, the purchase of Latitude tickets still violates city policy because "an economy ticket is always at a lower cost and if flexibility is needed, lower priced passes are available," he said.

"I believe that this level of pass was purchased by the Mayor or her staff with her approval, solely because they are freely upgradeable to business class."

Fennell is in the fight of her political life as she faces off against two main challengers — Brampton Councillor John Sanderson and former Liberal MPP and cabinet minister Linda Jeffrey — in the city's Oct. 27 mayoral election.

The incumbent mayor has defended her spending practices, stating that she believed that her staff were purchasing airline tickets that were the “most economical” for their needs and that the expenditures had been cleared by council.

"I say, let's have the police have a look," she said on CBC Radio One’s Metro Morning in August, after the Deloitte audit was released. "Have anyone you want have a look.

"There is nothing done wrong here."