WHERE DID THE MONEY GO?
One Year After Mayor Miller’s 1% Tax Hike, Freeport Residents Are Still Waiting for “Proven Results”

June 10, 2025

One Year After Mayor Miller’s 1% Tax Hike, Freeport Residents Are Still Waiting for “Proven Results”

Just over a year ago, Freeport residents were promised a future paved with progress—literally. After decades of neglect and crumbling infrastructure, Mayor Jodi Miller pushed through a controversial 1% sales tax increase, claiming the city had no choice but to raise funds if it ever hoped to fix its roads. The promise? Between $3 to $3.5 million annually would be dedicated exclusively to the Street Improvement Fund (Fund 318), a designated account to pay for desperately needed road work.

Aldermen Sellers, Klemm, Parker, and Shadle backed the increase, ignoring widespread skepticism from constituents who packed the library during a public town hall to warn that the money wouldn’t go where it was promised. Instead of directly addressing those concerns, Mayor Miller allowed City Manager Rob Boyer to make the case. He assured residents that the tax revenue would be protected and used only for street improvements unless otherwise changed by future councils.

Here at Fighting4Freeport, we’ve been paying close attention—collecting data, filing FOIA requests, and connecting the dots. As we sit in the summer of 2025, the questions have only gotten louder:
Where is the money?
Where is the work?
Where are the “proven results” we were promised?

July 2024: A $2.1 Million Starting Balance

According to public records, the tax increase officially took effect on July 1, 2024. On that day, Fund 318 had a balance of $2,145,221.49.

From July 1 to the end of the year, instead of growing, the fund shrunk—dropping to just $1,219,937.00 by January 1, 2025. That’s a nearly $1 million decrease during the same time new taxes were being collected and two grants totaling $410,000 were deposited.

June 2025: Just $2.7 Million Left—No Work Started

Fast forward to June 1, 2025, and the account now holds $2,769,780.51. Better, but far short of what was promised.

According to the Miller administration’s own projections, the 1% tax was expected to bring in at least $3 million annually. Add that to the starting balance and the grants, and Fund 318 should now be sitting on just under $6 million—plenty to cover the city’s projected $4 million 2025 street improvement plan.

But the money’s not there. And neither is the work. Freeport residents were told we’d see six street projects totaling about five miles of repairs in 2025. We're now halfway through the year, and not a single road project has broken ground.

Follow the Money: Fehr Graham and Old Debts

So where did the money go?

Documents obtained by Fighting4Freeport reveal that in the past year, roughly $3 million has been spent from the Street Improvement Fund. Of that:

  • Just under $600,000 was paid to engineering firm Fehr Graham.

  • Nearly $350,000 of those payments were labeled “2025 Street Improvements.”

Yet no street improvements have occurred.

Even more concerning, some of the Fehr Graham payments appear to be for work done in the previous year—raising serious questions about whether the city used the new tax revenue to cover old debts rather than fund new projects.

If true, that would mean the people of Freeport were sold a tax hike to cover yesterday’s bills, not tomorrow’s repairs. And the promise that these new funds would be set aside strictly for new infrastructure? Broken—before the first square of asphalt was even poured.

Accountability or Another Broken Promise?

Mayor Miller spent the past six months boasting of state and federal grants that would “help get our roads done.” But many of those funding streams have been frozen, delayed, or are no longer viable—raising another question: If she knew the grants were drying up, why didn’t her administration pivot to immediately utilize the cash we do have?

Instead, Freeport finds itself in the same pothole-riddled position it was in before the tax passed—only now residents are paying more at the register, with nothing to show for it.

We’re not here to speculate or sow distrust. We’re here to show receipts.
And the numbers don’t lie.

The people of Freeport deserve answers. We deserve transparency. Most of all, we deserve the roads we were taxed to receive.

So, once again:
Where is the money?
And where are the roads?

— Fighting4Freeport