Council removes finance report from consent agenda amid budget-transparency concerns

During public comment, Rhonda Scott urged the Freeport City Council to remove the March finance department report from the consent agenda and to allow more public scrutiny of the city’s spending and line items.

"The city revenue that the city spends on the general fund is only about 26,000,000," Rhonda Scott told the council, and she highlighted several line items she said merited questions: roughly $654,000 for the airport (described as the city’s fourth-largest general-fund expense), no standalone budget line for the Greater Freeport Partnership, and planned spending of $500,000 on EV chargers and $450,000 for a Safe Streets study. She also said GFP payments appeared to be funded from five TIF funds ($234,000), the hotel-motel tax ($280,000) and a state grant reported as $144,000.

Alderman Stacy (Cecilia Stacy) asked that several budget-related items be pulled from the consent agenda for further discussion, citing the airport, EV chargers, the Safe Streets study, delayed commission minutes and the Greater Freeport Partnership (GFP) monthly report. Council staff and Attorney Zito explained that the finance department’s March budget report was part of the consent packet as item 4a2 and that items in the finance department report could be discussed further; staff also noted the consent agenda would accept or receive items on file while separate approvals for expenditures would occur elsewhere.

After a motion to approve the consent agenda was made and discussion continued, the council agreed to remove item 4a2 — the finance department report for March — from the consent agenda to allow Alderman Stacy time to review it with the finance director. The remainder of the consent agenda was approved by roll call 7 to 1. The transcript records Alderman Stacy voting no on the consent motion; the mayor and other members voted to approve the remaining items.

The consent items approved included minutes from boards and commissions, the zoning board and planning commission minutes, building-permit and cash-and-investment reports (excepting the removed finance report), the Greater Freeport Partnership monthly report dated April 2025, a proclamation for National Travel and Tourism Week, approval of finance bills payable totaling $392,484.27 and payroll for the pay period ending April 19, 2025 totaling $663,136.32.

Council staff clarified on the record that removing the finance report from the consent agenda did not stop council members from requesting the finance director answer questions in the coming weeks and that approval of any actual expenditures would be processed through the regular budget or ordinance approval steps, not by "receive and place on file." Rhonda Scott’s public comment and Alderman Stacy’s request put the GFP funding sources and the larger budget line items into the council’s workplan for additional review.