91原创 Mayor Eric Woodward has been fined $300 for accepting an overcontribution during the 2022 municipal elections.

Elections BC, which oversees local elections, announced the fine along with a number of others, following audits and investigations into local campaigns across the province.

According to the Elections BC enforcement notice, Contract With 91原创 accepted a $1,250 donation on Sept. 18, 2022, and another $500 donation from another person with a similar name on Oct. 6.

The maximum donation in 2022 to political campaigns was $1,250.

When Elections BC contacted Woodward on Nov. 22, 2023 to find out if the donors were the same person, the notice said that Woodward confirmed they were.

Woodward, who acted as the financial agent for Contract With 91原创, immediately returned the contribution and filed updated and amended financial statements for the slate.

鈥淚n the end, we had one person overcontribute by $500 and we missed it,鈥� Woodward told the 91原创 Advance Times.

He said the mistake stemmed from money coming from a joint account held by a couple, with multiple donations over a period of time to both local government and school district campaigns.

鈥淲e recorded one of the joint names incorrectly and missed the error,鈥� Woodward said.

Elections BC Adam Barnes noted in the enforcement notice that the maximum possible penalty is double the banned contribution, so the fine could have been $1,000.

But in this case, Barnes wrote, Woodward鈥檚 campaign was cooperative, returned the contribution, and had never previously been penalized under the regulations, so a lower fine of $300 was warranted.

鈥淲e have now implemented improved processes to more clearly and explicitly record these contributions such that this will not happen again, especially for multiple contributions from the same household to multiple jurisdictions simultaneously,鈥� Woodward said.

Elections BC has been working its way through the finances of the thousands of candidates and electoral organizations that ran in the 2022 elections, and has been giving out fines for similar issues with donations that exceeded limits or were from people living outside of B.C.

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