The Grand Rapids City Commission has spent more than triple its allotted annual budget for travel, food, professional development and training as city officials dodged questions as to why.
Information included in a February budget report shows the city’s legislative body is a whopping 307% over budget for its spending in these categories for the fiscal year 2026. The commission was originally afforded $12,000 for those expenses but spent $36,784 as of the report’s publishing.
Among the unbudgeted expenses are nearly $20,000 in training and professional development and $6,000 in food and beverages.
In an email to Clerk Joel Hondorp and Media Relations Manager Steve Guitar, The Grand Rapids Herald sought specific answers to the reason behind the commission’s budget explosion. That communication included pointed questions as to why the City Commission was spending money on expenses that were not budgeted for, and the purpose of the training and development expenditures.
While Hondorp did not acknowledge receipt of the inquiry, Guitar responded by sidestepping the questions and instead focusing on the commission’s total budget, which, he emphasized, is within normal bounds.
“The City Commission is on track to end the fiscal year within the adopted budget for the department,” he wrote via email. “As part of that budget, travel and training expenses are tracked against an estimate for planning and financial management purposes. All Commissioner travel is authorized by resolution.”
“Most Commission travel involves conferences hosted by professional local government associations, such as the National League of Cities and the Michigan Municipal League, where commissioners participate in policy discussions and best practice sharing,” he added. “Food and beverage expenses attributed to the Commission supported various public meetings, including Commission Night Out events and the Commission Prioritization Workshop, to help facilitate community participation.”
When The Herald pressed Guitar for further answers, he again looked to the total budget without explaining the specific expenses under travel, food, professional development and training. Guitar also drew The Herald’s reporting into question, claiming that the premise for its story on the budget is “entirely false.”
“The City Commission’s expenses are below its $709,000 budget,” Guitar repeated. “Individual line items are permitted to fluctuate within the overall budget. Every dollar of expenditure is accounted for in the City’s financial system.”
Guitar did not respond when he was presented with The Herald’s specific questions a third time. The Herald has since filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the city to obtain documents linked to the commission’s spending.
The utilization appears abnormal for the City Commission given its previous spending habits. In February of fiscal year 2025, the commission had spent 96% of its $16,500 budget for travel, food, professional development and training.
In February of fiscal year 2024, the commission used just 59% of its budget. Fiscal year 2023 saw 62% spent.
Grand Rapids Comptroller Max Frantz told The Herald the City Commission’s 2026 travel, food, professional development and training spending is “notably higher” than previous years.
“Historically, professional development expenses during this period averaged just over $1,000, whereas they exceed $12,000 in the current year,” he wrote via email. “Additionally, there were no identified expenses categorized as training in the comparable reporting periods of the past three years, compared to more than $7,000 this year.”
Frantz added that his office would normally have access to invoices linked to this spending, but this responsibility was transferred to other city government entities which report to the City Commission. This decision, he added, appears to conflict with the City Charter.
“[I]n January 2025, these functions were delegated to an unelected administrative finance officer (CFO) hired by and reporting to the City Manager who is hired and appointed by the City Commission,” Frantz wrote. “The CFO and City Manager have purported to have authority over accounting and payment issuance responsibilities for the City of Grand Rapids through a department they manage referred to as the ‘Fiscal Services Department Accounting Services Division.’”
“This department is not established in the Grand Rapids City Charter but is understood to have all records pertaining to the accounting, invoices and supporting documentation for payments issued to any external parties that provided the unbudgeted services to the City Commission,” he added.
The city’s incomplete response to The Herald’s questions comes in the wake of the City Commission’s decision to pass a policy requiring commission members to disclose their personal finances. Mayor David LaGrand touted the move as one of many dedicated toward fiscal transparency by city leaders.
“Of course we don’t want corruption in government anywhere… anywhere,” Mayor LaGrand said in a video shared to Instagram. “We need to constantly be building trust between the people who get elected and the people who elect them.”
Write to jackson@grherald.com.