Jan 30, 2010 - 04:30 AM

By Carola Vyhnak

UXBRIDGE -- Thomas Foster must be turning over in his crypt.

Taxpayers are footing the bills on his prized memorial temple, the Foster Memorial, on Regional Road 1 in Uxbridge. That wasn't what the former Toronto mayor and philanthropist intended 65 years ago, when he willed $80,000 for maintenance in perpetuity.

But 18 years ago, when the Canada Trust Company transferred the fund to the Township of Uxbridge, there was only $9,500 left.

The Township was told the rest had been eaten up by expenses such as hydro, caretaking, oil, income tax, legal fees and insurance, says Ingrid Svelnis, Uxbridge's chief administrative officer.

They didn't buy that, recalls councillor and Foster aficionado Bev Northeast.

"We felt we were being taken, to be honest with you."

Lawyers "went at each other" but the Township halted further legal action because it would take years and "the lawyers would get rich," says Coun. Northeast, founding member and secretary of the Foster Memorial Committee, which runs the 75-year-old building, used for concerts and weddings.

The bank provided no explanation to Torstar News Services for the money's disappearance, other than to say the terms of the trust allowed for expenses to be paid from the income and capital.

"We are confident in our administration of the trust over the course of 47 years and have every reason to believe the Township of Uxbridge and the court, having signed off on the transfer, were satisfied as well," Barbara Timmins, spokeswoman for TD Wealth Management, said in an e-mail.

"He would be very upset" about the dried-up account, Coun. Northeast says of the man known as Honest Tom, "watchdog of the treasury."

Mr. Foster, who was Toronto's mayor from 1925 to 1927, built the scaled-down version of the Taj Mahal, dubbed the "Diamond of Durham," as a final resting place for himself, his wife and daughter near his childhood home in Leaskdale. He died in 1945 at age 93.

The Township pays an annual $8,000 for upkeep on the Byzantine tomb and applies for government grants for larger expenses.

On a more positive note, Mr. Foster would be pleased to know children are still picnicking in Toronto's parks, his city is turning ever greener and a 14-metre Canadian-grown flagpole stands tall at Central Technical School on Harbord Street, all thanks to his far-sighted generosity.

Close to $1 million, or more than $12 million in today's terms, went to an eclectic mix of charities, ranging from cash gifts to charwomen and newsboys to $600,000 for cancer research.

Thirteen years later, lawyers were still studying his "astounding" will, which made provisions to feed the birds in winter, repair the Salvation Army's musical instruments and reward women who had the most children in 10 years.

But it's the enduring nature of a $100,000 donation to beautify Toronto with trees that thrills chief forester Richard Ubbens.

"He keeps contributing to the urban forestry of Toronto every year, and it's a neat thing," Mr. Ubbens says of the aid to the City's annual $5.5 million tree-planting budget.

In the face of rising costs, Mr. Foster's picnics for schoolchildren have been cut back to every second year. Funded from an original $100,000 donation and organized by the City and TD Waterhouse Private Trust, the free event attracts hundreds of kids to a different park each time.

Mr. Foster's legacy is thriving at the University of Toronto, where income from the $600,000 he left in trust has paid $925,000 to help 500 students, says Paul Cantin, spokesperson for the Faculty of Medicine.