What did the Mayor do in France?

This week's agenda had a detailed account of the Mayor's trip to France and the values and insights he gained from it. The report can be found  here.  (Mayor's Report).This would seem to have been of benefit to both himself and the city. However, I would still argue that if he had chosen to use the trip as a tax deduction rather than a grant from Council the cost burden to ratepayers could have been much less.