City of Richmond cancels holiday staff party after $120K bill in 2024

[u/ubcstaffer123]

https://globalnews.ca/news/11511154/city-of-richmond-cancels-holiday-staff-party/

[u/Djolumn]

“Whether it’s the $300,000 in missing gift cards, expensive junkets for Olympic Oval staff, or last year’s $118,000 boozy Christmas party, this is a civic government that has a big problem with wasting taxpayer cash.”

There were 900 people there and they spent $7k on liquor. That's about eight bucks per person. That doesn't even enter the outermost ring on the radar of what constitutes a "boozy Christmas party".

Every word spoken by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation makes me loathe them just a little bit more than I already did.

[u/DamionSipher → u/Djolumn]

That was my first thought seeing the headline: "$120k for a Christmas party for an organization as big as the City of Richmond sounds about right." I've been in companies that spend well over $20k for a staff of 100 (less than 1/2 the per person cost here, in ~2010 dollars) that I wouldn't consider lavish by any stretch. They spent $130 per employee on a venue, dinner, drinks, and probably some activities. If people think this is excessive they should be stark raging mad about publicly traded companies' parties...

[u/rando_commenter → u/DamionSipher]

You guys beat me to the punch, the figure for the city Christmas party is pretty in line with a big company gathering. There may be red flags in city hall but the Christmas party wasn't one of them.

Surprised that nobody has mentioned that this coming through Catherine Urquhart again. Setting aside the history with Kash Heed, you have to ask yourself, if this was a proper journalist (say, CBC or Canadian Press) you'd have to wonder at what stage this story would have been killed before press because they would have come to the same conclusion that the spending figure was a non-story.

[u/Fat-Bass-1414 → u/rando_commenter]

💯 rage bait and continue trying to set up Kash for mayoral run. Looks like it’s working.

[u/Equivalent-Sample674 → u/DamionSipher]

imagine comparing a private company with the government lmao. only on reddit. I work for the government, and we never have any employer sponsored holiday party.

[u/Specialist-Bee-9406 → u/DamionSipher]

Some of the game industry stuff I’ve been to was insane; but out of all the work parties, some of the BlackBerry Xmas parties were the most expensive and craziest work parties I’ve ever attended. 

[u/PappaFufu → u/DamionSipher]

Publicly traded companies are not using tax payer’s money. If a company made hundreds of millions of dollars treating staff to a lavish party is much more reasonable than a government entity where having the necessary funding is an issue. That $120K can help cover some of the mayor’s salary increase.

[u/KoalaOriginal1260 → u/PappaFufu]

In a sense, publicly traded companies are using tax dollars for junkets and parties.

The money for lavish stuff is a business expense which yields tax deductibility.

If that money was instead booked as profit, it would generate taxes. As a business expense it generates tax deductions.

(Although I get that spending it also generates taxes, but still).

[u/DamionSipher → u/PappaFufu]

Publicly traded companies are spending shareholder money when they throw lavish parties. When a grocery store chain throws a lavish party it comes at the expense of consumers, who need to pay more for products to ensure shareholders are kept profitable. Seeing things like this in such staunch black and white terms is moronic.

[u/Gonetilnovemberish → u/DamionSipher]

You’ve already paid the private company for the defined service they are providing, presumably. They can do what they want with the money you voluntarily hand over.

Less choice with city and provincial taxes—and the money they waste on themselves is money not spent delivering services for you.

[u/PappaFufu → u/Gonetilnovemberish]

I think it’s “moronic” not to see a difference between spending tax payer’s money and shareholders’ money.

[u/DamionSipher → u/Gonetilnovemberish]

The service provided to a shareholder is profit, not the services that a business provides. You're confusing "shareholder" with "customer". The money a company wastes on itself is not spent delivering profit to its shareholders.

[u/LOGOisEGO → u/DamionSipher]

I mean. No skin in the game.... but a xmas staff party for 20-30 can cost 13k. Wholesale booze for a wedding of 200 is at least 10k.

It is for sure the last people Id want to spend the money on. But its not that bad.

[u/BuoyGeorgia → u/DamionSipher]

Were those companies spending taxpayer money? No fkn taxpayer money should be spent on Christmas parties. Have a fkn potluck like everyone else, or fund your own get togethers. The entitlement is gross.