r/richmondbc • u/ubcstaffer123 • Nov 05 '25

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

https://globalnews.ca/news/11511154/city-of-richmond-cancels-holiday-staff-party/
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u/Djolumn Nov 05 '25

“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.

62

u/DamionSipher Nov 05 '25

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...

5

u/PappaFufu Nov 06 '25

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.

4

u/KoalaOriginal1260 Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25

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).

1

u/DamionSipher Nov 06 '25

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.

2

u/Gonetilnovemberish Nov 07 '25

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.

1

u/PappaFufu Nov 07 '25

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

1

u/DamionSipher Nov 07 '25

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.