In a rare showing of public ire Monday, Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns alleged the Geneva Chamber was lying about its finances and questioned how – or if – the city should provide funds for its festivals.

Burns set a special Committee of the Whole meeting for 7 p.m. May 11 to discuss the Chamber and May 18 for the council’s final action on how to proceed – possibly with a grant/reimbursement program, where the Chamber is treated like every other organization that gets city funds.

“The two most salient issues are answering the fundamental question of how and why the Chamber of Commerce had a negative swing of $463,000 between the years 2023 and 2024,” Burns said. “Second, we had a Chamber representative stand up in this room and say – unequivocally – and I’ll paraphrase, ‘We received funding from the city in 2023 but nothing in 2024.’”

Burns said that assertion was false.

“The Chamber’s own financial statements, as required by law to be filed with the Internal Revenue Service, showed that of $189,000 the city granted to the Chamber as part of the hotel motel tax, $136,000 was transferred to (the) 2024 fiscal year,” Burns said. “In other words, they didn’t spend what they received. They transferred two-thirds-plus of that money to 2024.”

Chamber President Paula Schmidt responded to Burns’ criticisms in an email to Shaw Local.

“As these remarks were unexpected, we are taking the time to carefully review them and will follow up with a thoughtful, fact-based response in the near future,” Schmidt wrote. “The efforts of the Chamber will always reflect our continued investment in the success of our businesses and our commitment to fostering a strong, connected, and thriving community.”

Tensions have risen in recent months between the Chamber and city officials about the lack of city funding.

Chamber Treasurer Susan Huang criticized the city at the Jan. 20 council meeting, saying if they didn’t get funding, they might cancel Swedish Days. The Chamber asked for $150,000 from the city to aid event promotion.

The festival is still happening, however. The Chamber recently said it would cancel the parade, then a group of downtown business owners and Chamber members stepped up to support a smaller parade.

So far this year, the city has not pledged any cash for the Chamber’s four festivals. After Swedish Days in June, the Chamber hosts the Arts Fair in July, the Festival of the Vine in September and Christmas Walk in December.

Questions of sponsorship

What prompted the mayoral dress-down were alderpersons’ comments at the end of the Committee of the Whole about Chamber funding issues.

Third Ward Alderperson Dean Kilburg said the community is questioning the city’s sponsorship of the Chamber.

Kilburg asked that they take it up in a Committee of the Whole discussion.

“Questions about the city’s sponsorship for 2026-27 still remain unanswered,” Kilburg said. “Simply a council discussion on a review of the $50,000 of the city’s 2025-26 sponsorship and sponsorship intentions for 2026-27.”

Fourth Ward Alderperson Larry Furnish and 2nd Ward Alderperson Bradley Kosirog also asked for more public discussion, as the city has yet to give the Chamber any money for the current year.

“If we are going to give them a grant or partner with them,” Furnish said. “They run into some expenses for these events that are coming up.”

Kosirog said the community is wondering.

“I know we have a grant program presentation coming up soon,” Kosirog said. “I don’t think we have answered the bigger questions of what’s going on with the Chamber. ... I think the public is asking us to have a conversation.”

City Administrator Alex Voigt said in city staff’s ongoing conversations with the Chamber, they hadn’t yet shared the plan for a grant program.

“That was a conversation we were hoping to have with them,” Voigt said. “Our next step is to sit down with them and talk to them and start to close those loops. We are moving forward in the process.”

Voigt had met with alderpersons individually in private meetings to discuss a grant program.

“We are bringing that program forward for review,” Voigt said. “We planned to bring something before the council in May, which is what I believe we talked about.”

Kilburg urged that the council discuss Chamber issues in public.

“I think it’s important we have a good working relationship with our Chamber and I think this is a step in the right direction,” Kilburg said.

‘Not true, not true, not true’

Burns said pushing to give the Chamber money goes against the elected officials’ oath to uphold city ordinances and state statutes when it comes to funding external organizations.

“How are we, as a council and purveyors of the purse – how can we abandon our fiduciary responsibility and say, ‘Let’s just make something work’ without knowing how the organization we may want to fund is doing financially?” Burns asked. “I don’t think we can. I don’t think we can.”

The seriousness of the Chamber’s financial issues cannot be ignored, he said.

“If those issues reach a certain level, it ain’t the organization we fund who gets in trouble, it’s us, cause we are skirting Illinois statute,” Burns said. “I can no longer remain silent.”

The city created a grant program in 2024, but the Chamber chafed at its requirements, Burns said, responding with five pages of questions.

“We are the grantor. No grant recipient that I know of ever said to anyone perhaps considering an investment, ‘I don’t like the way this is structured,’” Burns said. “I have never, in my 40 years as a professional fundraiser seeking grants from donors, asked to have a grant program modified to make it easier on me. That’s what the Chamber did.”

Yet, the city agreed to give the Chamber $50,000 last year “no strings attached,” as sponsors of its four festivals.

“All of you recall fondly that the Chamber has said from the get-go that their success hinges on promoting these events,” Burns said. “Of the $50,000 gift provided to the Chamber of Commerce, 7% of that gift was used for promotion – 7%. We have yet to receive ... profit and loss statements on Swedish Days, Arts Fair, Festival of the Vine and Christmas Walk.”

Burns said the question should not be why isn’t the city funding the Chamber, but how can the city best support the Chamber in a way that holds them accountable – the way all other grant recipients are.

The mayor also questioned Chamber data regarding festival attendance.

Burns challenged the Chamber selling sponsorships for $9,900 based on the assertion that the Swedish Days festival draws 200,000 people, 40,000 come to Festival of the Vine and 25,000 come to the Arts Fair.

“Not true, not true, not true,” Burns said.

Burns said the city’s own geofencing company, Placer.AI has foot traffic analytics that track how many attend festivals – and it’s far less than what the Chamber claims.

Burns said the city’s geofencing data shows the last time Swedish Days had more than 70,000 people was in 2019.

The Placer.AI data shows 70,159 people at Swedish Days 2019, down to 41,916 in 2025.

It shows the Arts Fair had 21,869 in 2019 down to 14,999 in 2025.

It also shows Festival of the Vine had 24,883 in 2019, down to 14,105 in 2025.

Christmas Walk had 25,302 in 2019 going down to 16,401 in 2025 – actually more than the Chamber’s usual estimate of 10,000, according to the city’s data.

‘It’s our money, give it to us’

Since 2019, Burns said the city has been trying to recalibrate its relationship with the Chamber.

“The response has been two-fold,” Burns said of the Chamber. “‘It’s our money, give it to us. It’s always been our money, give it to us. That’s our money, you took it from us.’”

Regarding the city’s 2024 investment in the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau of $500,000 over three years, Burns said that was at the request of the city’s three hotels because they complained the Chamber was not bringing in enough overnight guests.

Burns said at the time, the Chamber ginned up its membership to send letters asking the city not to defund the Chamber in favor of the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Burns said he talked to every Chamber member who wrote to explain why.

The response was, “‘I didn’t know, I was just asked to sign the letter.’”

In January, the Chamber circulated a letter to the nonprofits who depend on Swedish Days sales to fund their charities, spreading alarm that the festival could be canceled if the city does not give the Chamber more funding, Burns said.

“They [the nonprofits] have to pay $1,000 to the Chamber to have their booth on city property,” Burns said. “That’s our canvas.”

Burns’ comments begin at the 1:49:35 mark on the city’s posted video of the April 20 Committee of the Whole.