All city-issued credit card expenditures made by Elgin City Council members over the last year will be examined after Councilman Anthony Ortiz raised questions about items he saw included in the city bills paid Wednesday night.
While the expenses identified did not violate city rules, they may indicate a need for tighter guidelines, he said. Among them was $232 in Uber ridesharing costs and $100 for overweight luggage fees, both stemming from a conference trip.
While city staff has a manual outlining expenses that can be charged, no such guidelines have been established for council members, City Manager Rick Kozal said.
“What governs expenses by employees doesn’t necessarily match what the council thinks is appropriate,” Kozal said. If a staff member were to be charged for overweight luggage fees, the employee would be told they needed to do a better job packing before they are assigned another work-related trip, he said.
Ortiz did not allege any misappropriation but questioned whether the city should be paying such expenses. He also raised concerns about the amount of city money being spent on conferences.
The council’s budget allocates $9,000 for conferences and all items related to attending them. Ortiz said about $3,000 has been spent so far this year, and noted there is an “unspoken rule” that every council member receives $1,000 to cover expenses when they attend one.
“We as a council should be more proactive in discussing this and finding a middle ground on all this spending we are doing on credit cards,” he said. “We all get paid to be on the council, and a lot of these expenditures we should pay out of pocket.
“In my opinion, me being a normal dude and not being a millionaire, a couple of hundred bucks is a lot of money. I think the community should know when a couple of hundred bucks are being spent to stay at a hotel or take an Uber.”
Additionally, the council passed a requirement last year under which members attending conferences were to provide a report about what they learned and how it could help the city, he said. No reports have been provided, he said.
Ortiz’s motion requested that staff analyze the credit card expenditures from 2025 to now, update the city’s website to reflect those costs correctly and come back with suggestions for best practices.
“If we are already doing best practices, we’ll keep doing it, but if there’s something we can fix, then we fix it,” he said.
The documents Ortiz referenced were related to expenses charged by Councilman Corey Dixon, including a $100 overweight bag fee and three Uber charges totaling $232 to and from an airport associated with attending a conference.
Dixon’s name wasn’t mentioned during the meeting, and he didn’t violate any rules. When contacted Thursday, Dixon said he had no problem with credit card expenditures being examined.
“I wholeheartedly support transparency, and I support measures to keep an eye on all who are spending in the course of doing business for the city, including city staff,” he said. “A complete review of all P-card transactions and reimbursements as well as nonbudgeted expenses that are being made by other city means should be extended to the city manager’s office and all departments.”
At the meeting, Councilwoman Diana Alfaro agreed that “there should be guidelines so it’s clean-cut.”
As a newer council member, she said she was given the credit card without any direction.
“I didn’t even know if I should keep receipts or not. I work in state government so I know in government you just keep receipts,” she said. “Then I was told I had to pay the sales tax. I was like, OK, I didn’t know.”
Mayor Dave Kaptain concurred.
“I’m a big believer in transparency,” he said. “This is certainly something we all talk about, transparency, so the public knows what goes on in government. This follows through with that. I will support that.”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
