Halifax mayor’s expenses to be reviewed by police after audit

The city’s auditor general has asked Halifax police to look into the expenses of the mayor.

Andrew Atherton said he sent the report to authorities after four transactions from Andy Fillmore’s office did not comply with the city’s spending policy.

“It’s a professional judgement of mine where things move potentially past non-compliance into an area where I am not qualified to say if something is illegal or not illegal,” said Atherton.

In a media release, the city said two invoices for legal services were submitted and paid.

Two procurements did not follow “competitive processes” which is required by policy.

One was for HR services for office reorganization and recruitment that was valued at $90,000. The other was for speech writing services valued at $14,000.

The city said, although all four didn’t comply with the procurement policy, they were services used.

Capital budget

Gaps were found in the capital budget process for 2025/26 including oversight, priorities and cost estimation.

According to HRM, the governance structure for capital budgeting did not “function as designed”.

“There was a lack of evidence showing how key senior leaders in the organization were meaningfully involved in considering overall organizational needs prior to projects being recommended to Regional Council,” said the news release.

And there wasn’t enough clarity around roles and responsibilities.

There were nine recommendations which the city has agreed to.

In a statement, Mayor Andy Fillmore said the report made one thing clear: “as Halifax grows, we need a stronger and more disciplined approach to capital planning.”