Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
📌 SAVE THIS CLIP. SHARE IT. COME BACK TO IT WHEN YOU HAVE TIME. 20 Minutes That Will Shake You. You don’t need a finance degree to see what’s wrong here - just common sense and a heart for the people. The City of Evanston has some serious explaining to do.
At the July 8th Finance & Budget Committee meeting, public comment kicked things off and the tension lit up the room.
Firefighter Pension Board President Jack Mortell once again brought forward documentation…yes, this is not the first time…raising serious concerns that the City has been misrepresenting its budget for YEARS.
How? By allegedly using Firefighter and Police Pension funds to make the budget appear balanced, when in reality, the City may have been running a deficit.
🧾 These are questions - backed by documents that deserve honest answers.
🧾 And yet… answers weren’t what the public received.
CFO Hitesh Desai responded defensively, not factually.
💥 He never once denied that the budget had been misrepresented.
💥 And let’s be real, if the accusations weren’t true, any CPA would’ve simply produced the numbers from over the years to prove that the budget was reported accurately.
But he didn’t do that.
Instead, he focused on defending city staff.
🔥 Councilmember Clare Kelly pressed hard and wouldn’t back down.
She stated plainly that this looks like misrepresentation, repeated over years, and she broke down how this impacts the lives of everyday residents.
Then it escalated.
As Jack Mortell exercised his right to speak, a committee member verbally attacked him.
Councilmember Matt Rodgers had to intervene and remind everyone: Public comment must be respected - not silenced or punished.
Then came the auditor, the person hired to review the financial concerns. But when questioned, she said it was “out of her purview.”
Wait… wasn’t she brought in to look into this?
🔥 Clare Kelly pointed out this contradiction loud and clear.
Yet again, Mayor Daniel Biss has stayed silent.
🧾 No forensic audit.
🧾 No direct acknowledgment of these growing concerns.
🧾 No accountability - just silence.
And still no clarity around the $330,000 in missing federal housing funds connected to the Economic Development Cooperative (EDC).
🧾 Councilmembers Jonathan Nieuwsma and Bobby Burns both served on the EDC.
🧾 Bobby Burns says he left before the funds arrived, but he did write a letter of support to help secure those funds.
So here’s the question:
Are they pressing to find out where that money went?
Because Clare Kelly is. And residents keep asking. And for months now, we’ve received no clear explanation.
📢 This is what’s happening while most residents are at work, caring for family, or just trying to make it day to day.
👉 If you want to see for yourself, don’t just take my word:
Go to the City of Evanston YouTube Channel and search:
🗓️ July 8, 2025 – Finance & Budget Committee Meeting
👀 Judge for yourself. Watch what was said. Watch how it was handled.
Because this isn’t just about finances - it’s about whether we can trust those handling them.
#Evanston #IsTheBudgetReal #PensionConcerns #MissingMoney #EDCFunds #ClareKelly #DanielBiss #JonathanNieuwsma #BobbyBurns #TransparencyMatters #ElectionSeason #PublicDeservesAnswers #WakeUpEvanston
📌 SAVE THIS CLIP. SHARE IT. COME BACK TO IT WHEN YOU HAVE TIME. 20 Minutes That Will Shake You. You don’t need a finance degree to see what’s wrong here - just common sense and a heart for the people. The City of Evanston has some serious explaining to do.
At the July 8th Finance & Budget Committee meeting, public comment kicked things off and the tension lit up the room.
Firefighter Pension Board President Jack Mortell once again brought forward documentation…yes, this is not the first time…raising serious concerns that the City has been misrepresenting its budget for YEARS.
How? By allegedly using Firefighter and Police Pension funds to make the budget appear balanced, when in reality, the City may have been running a deficit.
🧾 These are questions - backed by documents that deserve honest answers.
🧾 And yet… answers weren’t what the public received.
CFO Hitesh Desai responded defensively, not factually.
💥 He never once denied that the budget had been misrepresented.
💥 And let’s be real, if the accusations weren’t true, any CPA would’ve simply produced the numbers from over the years to prove that the budget was reported accurately.
But he didn’t do that.
Instead, he focused on defending city staff.
🔥 Councilmember Clare Kelly pressed hard and wouldn’t back down.
She stated plainly that this looks like misrepresentation, repeated over years, and she broke down how this impacts the lives of everyday residents.
Then it escalated.
As Jack Mortell exercised his right to speak, a committee member verbally attacked him.
Councilmember Matt Rodgers had to intervene and remind everyone: Public comment must be respected - not silenced or punished.
Then came the auditor, the person hired to review the financial concerns. But when questioned, she said it was “out of her purview.”
Wait… wasn’t she brought in to look into this?
🔥 Clare Kelly pointed out this contradiction loud and clear.
Yet again, Mayor Daniel Biss has stayed silent.
🧾 No forensic audit.
🧾 No direct acknowledgment of these growing concerns.
🧾 No accountability - just silence.
And still no clarity around the $330,000 in missing federal housing funds connected to the Economic Development Cooperative (EDC).
🧾 Councilmembers Jonathan Nieuwsma and Bobby Burns both served on the EDC.
🧾 Bobby Burns says he left before the funds arrived, but he did write a letter of support to help secure those funds.
So here’s the question:
Are they pressing to find out where that money went?
Because Clare Kelly is. And residents keep asking. And for months now, we’ve received no clear explanation.
📢 This is what’s happening while most residents are at work, caring for family, or just trying to make it day to day.
👉 If you want to see for yourself, don’t just take my word:
Go to the City of Evanston YouTube Channel and search:
🗓️ July 8, 2025 – Finance & Budget Committee Meeting
👀 Judge for yourself. Watch what was said. Watch how it was handled.
Because this isn’t just about finances - it’s about whether we can trust those handling them.
#Evanston #IsTheBudgetReal #PensionConcerns #MissingMoney #EDCFunds #ClareKelly #DanielBiss #JonathanNieuwsma #BobbyBurns #TransparencyMatters #ElectionSeason #PublicDeservesAnswers #WakeUpEvanston
