70% Over Budget and Counting: Who’s Watching the Numbers?

Dear Editor:

Ten years ago, then Mayor Mike Wyatt openly acknowledged that citizens were right to be concerned about the City of Grant withholding information. In the Aug. 6, 2015, edition of the Grant Tribune-Sentinel, Wyatt responded to concerns raised by the Perkins County Pool Project Committee, saying: “There is no reason why the city would withhold information from you. There is a process when requesting information.” The implication was clear — citizens should not have to fight their own city to gain access to public records.

Yet here we are in 2025, and the very same problem persists. On July 8, 2025, I submitted a formal public records request to the City of Grant, asking for any notice from the City Attorney regarding a rate increase. The official signed response came back: “No Records Exist.”

But just six days later, after speaking again with the Nebraska Auditor of Public Accounts office, Auditor Mason Culver confirmed that their office already had a copy of the very document the City claimed did not exist. He plainly stated, “that doesn’t make sense.”

This document — which allegedly notified the City of Grant of a rate increase from $250 to $275 per hour — was not produced in March when I first requested it, nor in July when my most recent request was answered by both the City Clerk and the City Attorney with the claim that no such record existed. Only after repeated pressure and multiple records requests did this document suddenly appear. When asked why it hadn’t been provided earlier, the City Clerk’s explanation was that my “wording was wrong.” I promise you, that was not the case.

Adding to this, at least two City Council members admitted publicly they had no knowledge of any rate increase, yet they had been approving invoices at $275 per hour for months. The contract on file — which is public — clearly stated $250 per hour.

Meanwhile, the City’s Professional Services budget line item tells its own story:

• 2023–2024 Fiscal Year Actual: $39,471.36

• 2024–2025 Annual Budgeted Amount: $55,000.00

• Balance as of June 30, 2025: $101,818.32 — nearly double the budget.

• Projected Year-End Total (per the most recent Council meeting): $125,522.07

That is roughly a 70% increase in one year, with no clear explanation for how the overages occurred or how the City Attorney’s invoices were reviewed and approved.

And yet, the same City Council that cannot explain these blown legal expenses is preparing to come back to taxpayers and ask for a city sales tax increase — reportedly over a library shortfall of less than $10,000. How can we justify raising taxes on working families when six figures in legal bills cannot be reconciled, invoices don’t match contracts, and documents only appear after repeated public pressure?

This is not a partisan issue. It is a matter of basic accountability. If our elected officials and city staff cannot keep transparent, accurate records on something as fundamental as a legal services contract, then taxpayers have every right to question how the rest of city business is being handled.

It was true in 2015, and it remains true today: there is no reason why the City of Grant should withhold information from its citizens. But when the contract, the invoices, the budget, and the public explanations all tell different stories, the public must keep asking the hard questions — and demanding real answers.

Respectfully,

Marlin Wendell

Grant, Nebraska