Amherst council among top spenders in Nova Scotia for conference travel

Municipal politicians and bureaucrats from across Nova Scotia spent more than a $600,000 attending two national conferences in 2013 and 2014.

And one of the top spenders was the Town of Amherst at $39,075 where every councillor is free to travel, and most did.

• INTERACTIVE: How much did your municipality spend to go to conferences?

"We've left it that way. In Amherst, the councillors decide if they see benefit in going and they decide whether they are going to participate," says Mayor Rob Small.

Not everyone agrees.

Everybody doesn't need to be there

Amherst Coun.Rob Bird refused to attend Federation of Canadian Municipalities conferences in Vancouver and Niagara Falls.

The annual meeting is billed as chance for municipal "decision makers" to "learn, connect and be inspired."

CBC News examined municipal travel expenses to the meetings using Freedom of Information legislation.

• Nova Scotia municipalities spend $600K on 2 conferences

"I believe it's important to have municipal representation there. But I just don't believe it's important to have everybody there," Bird says.

No restrictions on attendance

For the FCM meeting in Vancouver, Amherst sent five of seven elected officials, including the mayor and the town's chief administrative officer.

In Niagara Falls in 2014, six out of seven elected officials and the CAO attended.

The town of less than 10,000 places no restrictions on municipal councillors attending the conferences. It's open to all.

Bird says the $39,000 price tag added one penny to the tax rate, calling that "significant" in a small town.

The town of Amherst, however, suggests Bird is incorrect.

Greg Herrett, the CAO of Amherst, contacted CBC News to dispute Bird's claim that thecost of travelling to conferencesequalled a penny on the tax rate.

"In fact though, a penny on the rate in Amherst yields about $52,000. So an average of $18,000per year would not equate to almost one penny on the residential and commercial tax rates," Herrett wrote.

'It's the dollars'

"It's the dollars. If you are going to spend tens of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money, you need to be able to discern what the value is and in my estimation, I just don't see it," Bird said.

"Others may differ but in my estimation, the value just isn't there."

Mayor Rob Small disagrees.

"Me personally, I feel it's a benefit for councillors to go. I think that the more they understand, the more they can do. We train our staff, why not train our municipal councillors?"

Relatively low cost?

Small says sessions are valuable and relatively low cost. He says councillors learn about everything from how to help a volunteer organisation build a park, to how to plug into federal programs.

Later this week, Amherst will send another contingent to this year's Federation of Canadian Municipalitiesmeeting in Winnipeg at an estimated cost of $12,000.

Mayor Rob Small will be attending even though he's not re-offering in the fall. He says he intends to take advantage of the learning opportunity.

Rob Bird, who won't be in Winnipeg, is considering a run for mayor.