Ottawa’s mayor and councillors have spent millions of dollars on staff salaries, advertising, websites, and external services during this term of council. The mayor and all 24 councillors are provided an annual budget, and have discretion on spending taxpayers’ money to pay office staff, communicate with residents, support and promote activities, purchase office and computer supplies, and rent facilities for meetings and events. According to the Council Expense Policy, members of council “have the flexibility to allocate resources in the most efficient way to meet their own particular requirements.” “Members are the stewards of the city resources and are ultimately accountable to the public and their constituents for the type and level of expenses they occur,” the policy states under “Accountability.” A review of office expenses by CTV News Ottawa shows Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and the 24 councillors spent a total of $28.9 million on their office budgets between the start of the term in November 2022 and May 2026, the last month the office budget expenditures were available from the City of Ottawa. The largest expenditure by elected officials is salaries for office staff, accounting for $23.7 million of the $28.9 million spent, according to documents posted on the City of Ottawa’s website. During this term of council, taxpayers spent $1.9 million on websites, printing, mailings and advertising for elected officials, $1.1 million on external services for office assistance and consulting services, $676,000 on donations and sponsorships and $512,000 on community and special events. Councillors and the mayor also expensed $98,500 on hospitality and $28,000 for coffee, tea and refreshments for their offices. Sutcliffe spent a total of $3.9 million on his office budget between November 2022 and May 2026, while spending by councillors ranged from $838,831 to $1.1 million over the three-and-a-half-year period. Coun. Isabelle Skalski spent $321,000 between her election victory in July 2025 until the end of May, while former Osgoode Coun. George Dazrouze spent $697,000 on his office budget before resigning in 2025. According to the city’s website, councillors had a constituency office budget of $282,583 in 2023, $287,698 in 2024, and $367,698 in 2025. The office budget for the mayor’s office increased from $970,646 in 2023 to $1.3 million in 2025. The city said committee chairs received an increase to their constituency services budget of $41,666, and the chair of the planning and housing committee received $83,333. “Staffing levels and compensation remains at the discretion of the Ward Councillor,” the city told CTV News Ottawa. Salaries Salaries for office staff accounted for 82 per cent of the total office budgets spent by elected officials during the 43 months of data available. Sutcliffe spent $3.2 million on salaries for staff in the mayor’s office between November 2022 and May. Salaries for office staff in councillors’ offices ranged from $481,908 to $995,250. Coun. Tim Tierney spent $481,908 on office salaries during the period, while Coun. Riley Brockington spent $555,784 on staff salaries. The Osgoode councillors expensed $608,000 on salaries for staff during the term of council. Coun. Shawn Menard charged $995,250 for office salaries, while Coun. Ariel Troster expensed $981,802 on salaries during this term of council. Advertising/websites Ottawa taxpayers were billed more than $1.8 million for advertising and communications to constituents by the mayor and councillors during this term of council. The category is listed as “websites, printing, mailing and advertising” on the council expense lists, and includes running constituency websites and advertising in community newspapers. Sutcliffe expensed $168,500 for websites, printing, mailing and advertising between November 2022 and May 2026. The mayor spent $45,338 on “constituent communications and web services,” including advertising, in 2023, $17,425 in 2024, $51,760 in 2025 and $37,477 during the first five months of this year. Spending on constituent communications, advertising and websites by councillors ranged $30,700 to $193,000. Coun. Skalski spent $25,830 on websites, advertising and constituent communications between July 2025 and this May, while Darouze expensed $146,000 before resigning last year. External services The mayor and councillors spent $1.1 million on external services during this term of council, which includes office assistance and consulting services. The mayor’s budget included $257,314 in spending on external expenses between November 2022 and May 2026. Spending on external services by councillors ranged from $422 to $262,612. Coun. Laura Dudas, Clarke Kelly, Glen Gower, Theresa Kavanagh, Sean Devine, Jessica Bradley, Jeff Leiper, Isabelle Skalski, Catherine Kitts, Marty Carr and Wilson Lo all expensed less than $10,000 on external services over the 43-month period.
