A senior Aberdeen councillor has blamed a phantom broadband connection and “an oversight” for an expenses blunder which cost the tax payers more than £1,000 in the last two years.
Local authority documents show eight times the average sum was paid for Gordon Graham’s ICT and phone bills last financial year.
Between April 2020 and the end of March 2021, Mr Graham had £715 in communications costs, with the figure for the previous year adding up to £629.
And now, he is facing calls to pay the local authority back after what his opponents have branded a “careless oversight”.
Labour’s vice-convener of the council’s public protection and capital programme committees blamed the historically high bills on a broadband line which was never connected to his home, but paid for by the council.
While three members covered their bills themselves, the average cost was £87.34.
Most councillors had £79 contracts including home phone, mobile and broadband entitlements financed by the public purse.
Councillor claims missing disputed internet cost – fronted by the taxpayer – was an ‘oversight’
When asked about the spend, which he signed off with officials, Mr Graham said: “It was an expense put against me for broadband, but I haven’t had it.
“I challenged it last year and I challenged it again last night with the chief accountant.
“Unfortunately I missed it – an oversight – when the expenses came out but at the end of the day it shouldn’t be charged as I never received it.
“And I have a paper trail to prove that I challenged it last year, it was certainly something that was down against me that shouldn’t have been.”
Mr Graham declined to share his proof with us but confirmed the contract had now been cancelled and the situation “rectified”.
But the higher than average price of Mr Graham’s tech services was not limited to this last year, adding up to more than £3,000 since the month before the 2017 local election where he was re-elected.
In 2019-20, the Northfield and Mastrick North member’s £629 bill was more than five times the average covered by public money and the year before his phone and technology costs – totalling £834 – were four times the mean.
The council paid a £886 bill for Mr Graham in 2017-18 – worth more than seven times the average accumulated by other members.
A council spokeswoman confirmed the costs paid for under the telephone and ICT banner included landlines, mobile phones and broadband contracts.
She added: “The councillors are able to claim for certain business expenses to enable them to carry out their duties.
“There are a range of payment arrangements, some of which have been in place for many years.”
‘Careless oversight’: Public should ‘simply not be expected to pay’
Political opponents have called on the senior Aberdeen Labour figure to pay the local authority back.
They calculated the mistake has cost taxpayers hundreds, if not thousands.
SNP group leader Alex Nicoll told us: “We all get asked to approve our expenses every year before they are published.
“Unfortunately Councillor Graham doesn’t seem to have done that and it’s come at a cost of thousands of pounds to the council.
“Councillor Graham needs to explain exactly why he signed off some of the highest IT expenses in the council for four years running with this contract only being cancelled now.
“If this service wasn’t being used for his work as a councillor then it should be getting repaid.
“The public should simply not be expected to pay for his careless oversight.”
Coronavirus clips councillors’ wings
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of pounds has been saved through a lack of global travel – with trade missions grounded in the pandemic.
Frequent fliers, Lord Provost Barney Crockett and economic development spokesman John Reynolds, built up more than £11,000 in expenses the year before last.
This was due to trips to international conferences and to emerging energy states like Mexico and Colombia.
But from the yearly account of councillor spending, both went nowhere.
Taking the various stay at home advice at its word, Mr Reynolds only submitted a late claim for a trade meeting held in Manchester in the months before the pandemic arrived on UK shores.
Overall, city councillor salaries and expenses cost the taxpayer £987,861 in 2020-21 – down nearly £31,000 on the year before.
But costs could be expected to rise again this year, with the council already mapping a return on the global stage by the turn of the year.
Trips involving senior councillors and officials to the likes of Colombia, Brazil, South Korea and Saudi Arabia are being organised.