Some may call it a stunt, but a city councillor’s $1,600-renaming of crumbling back lanes after members of the mayor’s inner circle will qualify as a ward expense — at least for now.

Council’s governance committee — minus Coun. Harvey Smith (Daniel McIntyre), who carried out the sign change — voted 3-1 in favour of allowing the expense Friday.

Smith spent the cash creating and posting signs back in August to call attention to the seven worst back lanes in his ward after executive policy committee members, with the ultimate goal of securing funds to get them fixed. This added up to seven sign changes, including one at 630 Spence St. renamed for Mayor Sam Katz.

Smith defended the decision to bill the cost to his personal ward allowance, the controversial fund that rose $40,000 from $74,000 to $114,000 per councillor this year. He claimed the publicity bid amounted to advertising.

“I couldn’t have bought all this attention ... Just because I think outside the box in a creative way, I shouldn’t be penalized for that,” said Smith.

The expense came to the governance committee’s attention after the city clerk’s office questioned if it met the criteria for ward allowance spending. That funding has been a source of controversy after elected officials opted to dramatically raise the amount they could spend just as they implemented a 3.87% property tax hike and cut non-profit and museum grants by $335,000 in the 2013 budget.

Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) said the expenditure is not one he would have personally claimed, but agreed with Smith’s claim it would be “nit-picking” not to allow it.

Coun. Grant Nordman (St. Charles), the committee’s chair, also voted in favour of the claim as a one-time expense, noting advertising rules aren’t that clear under current expense rules.

“Do I think it meets criteria personally? No. But I’m prepared to give you a mulligan on this one,” said Nordman, who urged Smith to avoid similar expenses in the future.

Nordman said work to revamp rules of how ward allowances are spent should be completed in time to affect the council elected in 2014. Nordman noted the city’s auditor could still challenge Smith’s expense.

Only Old Kildonan Coun. Devi Sharma opposed the motion.

“Just because something garners media attention, that doesn’t make it right,” she said. “I don’t agree that our ward allowance can be used in this manner.”

Several councillors themselves railed against the ward budget hike when it was first added, which tacked on $600,000 to the overall budget.

This summer, city auditor Brian Whiteside recommended councillors stop using it for charitable donations because the cash is meant for office and constituency expenses. Monthly expenses, however, show at least six of 15 councillors continued the practice after the change was recommended.

joyanne.pursaga@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @pursagawpgsun