Flint City Council considers lowering spending approval threshold

FLINT, Mich. — Opinions are split among Flint City Council members over a proposed amendment that would change how much city administrators may spend without council approval. 

The ordinance, as currently written, allows the city purchasing director to approve contracts for services and supply purchases totaling less than $20,000. Purchases above that amount but below $30,000 require approval from the finance director, while the city administrator can approve purchases up to $50,000. The mayor is authorized to approve purchases up to $75,000.

Any purchase in excess of $75,000 should go to City Council for approval, according to the ordinance, though some council members are in favor of an amendment that would lower the purchase limit to $10,000. 

“I support this ordinance 100%,” said Flint City Councilwoman Jerri Winfrey-Carter. “The mayor has a $75,000 threshold, and he has continued to abuse that threshold. We need transparency and accountability — this is the residents’ money. This is public money, and it’s just being used with no type of approval.”

Winfrey-Carter said a $10,000 threshold on purchases is lenient enough for administrators to handle emergencies and day-to-day city business, though everything else should go to City Council for approval.

Council members voted unanimously at a May 11 Special Affairs Committee meeting to table discussion on the proposed ordinance amendment until the next committee meeting on May 26, 2026. A resolution in support of the amendment previously failed after a 4-4 deadlock vote at the committee’s April 27 meeting.

Flint City Councilwoman Judy Priestley previously said that $10,000 would be too low a threshold to place on city administrators as it would complicate the process of getting purchases approved in a timely manner. Priestley also shared concerns that requiring more items to need approval would put a strain on the schedules of city staff members. 

For Flint City Councilwoman Tonya Burns, the amendment is a step toward enforcing more transparency and accountability from the mayor’s office. Burns pointed to recent clashes between council members and city staff over budgeting matters, such as the use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and a long-stalled funding award meant to bolster programming and operations at the Mays Senior and Community Service Center, as situations that could be avoided if council members had more insight into how money is spent by the city. 

“We’re lacking the will to govern what the mayor is spending, and it’s not with approval,” Burns said. “Every dollar of those ARPA funds is supposed to come to council for approval.” 

Burns successfully motioned April 22 for a subpoena to be issued to Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley to appear before the council to answer questions regarding the city budget.

The subpoena was requested following a discussion around funding for the Mays Center, specifically that about $25,000 of the center’s $135,000 operating costs was spent without prior council approval.

City officials have not responded to the subpoena as of mid-May. City Attorney JoAnne Gurley said the council has the authority to officially open an investigation and reissue the subpoena.