Sidney's Mayor is under fire after disclosing that his campaign overspent during the election in October.
Election BC's new Local Elections Campaign Financing Act was enacted for the first time this election, which outlines the limits candidates can spend on their campaign.
Sidney's Mayor, Cliff McNeil-Smith, says his campaign spent $13,226 during the lead up to the October 20th election, $1,877 dollars more than the limit, $11,349 dollars. He says he disclosed the overspending as soon as it was spotted to provide transparency.
Anyone who violates the rules has to pay a fine, and either step down from their seat, or appeal to the BC Supreme Court and provide evidence that the extra money spent didn't have an impact on the results.
McNeil-Smith says he will fight to keep his seat.
"We'll voluntarily pay the fine. But with the provision in the Act to seek relief from loss of seat, we'll proceed with that. The Act clearly demonstrates what a candidate must prove to get relief from loss of seat, and that is that exceeding the expense limit did not materially affect the result of the election, and also that due diligence was exercised to ensure that overspending didn't occur."
However, former Mayor and McNeil-Smith's opponent, Steve Price is firing back, saying it's unacceptable that the overage was missed.
"How did they get that far past? I mean I was hundreds under my limit, so how do you get 2,000 over? You have to remember Cliff has a Masters of Business Administration, as I understand, and his financial agent was a certified general accountant. So how do you not follow quite plain and simple rules that were laid out for you."
McNeil-Smith has said it was an accounting error, that wasn't caught until after the election when they filed their disclosure statements. They disclosed the overspending to Elections BC before filing, and he wants to get the application process started as soon as possible, to appeal to the BC Supreme Court.
McNeil-Smith will have to prove the extra $1,877 didn't influence the election, which he won with 80% of the votes, but Price says that money can go a long way in advertising.
"What it could do is buy you another 1 or 200 signs, and that's something that happened in the last week of the election, the last few weeks, where he seemed to double the number of his signs, with big signs sprouted up all over the place. And that changed the course of the election."
Price says he and the public wants McNeil-Smith to give up his seat as mayor, but McNeil-Smith isn't going giving up that easily.
"The Provincial Legislation is such that the candidate retains their seat. And until a judge has made a decision in the case, I think it's prudent to serve in the role."
If the court finds the overspending did affect the outcome, then McNeil-Smith will be forced to step down, which could lead to a by-election. Neither Price nor McNeil-Smith have said whether or not they would run in a by-election.