JOLIET, IL — While Will County motorists are paying more than ever for their gasoline, including higher city of Joliet fuel taxes, a top-level City of Joliet official — deputy director of engineering Tony Anczer — has been pumping around 120 gallons of free, Joliet taxpayer-funded fuel into his personal vehicle in a given month, a Joliet Patch analysis has found.
Anczer regularly gases up his personal vehicle two or three times per week, often using his city of Joliet-issued fuel key card twice in a three-day period. Last week, Joliet Patch reported that recently ousted city of Joliet director of community development, Dustin Anderson, who commuted from Munster, Indiana, obtained free gasoline from Joliet's city-operated fuel pumps a total of 83 times between December 2024 and early August of this year.
Of the 83 fill-ups Anderson made on the Joliet taxpayers' dime, he obtained approximately 711.4 gallons of fuel.
As for Anczer, he has commuted to Joliet from Dyer, Indiana, and in 2025, he pumped around 1,328 gallons of City of Joliet free fuel into his personal vehicle during the time period of January through November, an average of 120.7 gallons per month.
This summer, Anczer used his free fuel card at the city of Joliet gasoline pumps on back-to-back days. On July 29, he gassed up for 19.7 gallons, and then he pumped another 8.3 gallons the next day, July 30.
There were also instances this past August in which Anczer filled up his gas tank on a Friday and then returned to work the following Monday, only to gas up again. For example, Alczer pumped 19.2 gallons of city of Joliet fuel on Friday, Aug. 14, and then pumped another 9.2 gallons on Monday, Aug. 17. That same week, he used the city of Joliet fuel pumps for his personal vehicle two more times, adding 9.8 gallons of free fuel on Wednesday, Aug. 19, and another 15 gallons on Friday, Aug. 21.
Then, following the weekend, Anczer gassed up his vehicle with another 14.4 gallons of fuel on Monday, Aug. 24.
10 Monthly Fuel Fill-ups For Anczer This Past August
In addition to the free supply of City of Joliet fuel for his personal vehicle, Anczer draws an annual salary of about $155,000, plus a $250 per month vehicle allowance stipend. As a resident of Dyer, Indiana, Anczer has had one of the longest commutes at Joliet City Hall, where he works in the utilities department, where he reports to director Allison Swisher, who has three deputy directors.
Joliet Patch's comprehensive analysis of the city's free fuel cards for the other two deputy directors in public utilities, Nick Gornick and Bill Baltz, showed substantially smaller fuel totals for them. Both of them live around Plainfield and Joliet, unlike Anczer, who has made the roughly 72-mile daily roundtrip drive from Dyer to Joliet during the work week.
According to the city of Joliet's fuel report obtained by Patch from a recent Freedom of Information Act request, Anczer made a total of 90 fuel fill-ups in 2025:
The fuel card data obtained by Joliet Patch through the Freedom of Information Act was through Sept. 15, 2026.
While Anczer gassed up his personal vehicle a total of 90 times in 2025, his deputy director peers in public utilities, Baltz and Gornick, used their access to the city fuel pumps approximately three times less, 32 times and 31 times, respectively. Baltz only had one month in which he used the city's fuel pumps a total of four times last year. Gornick showed only two months of using the city's fuel pumps four or five times.
Tony Anczer 'A Top Producing Northwest Indiana Realtor'
In addition to working at Joliet's City Hall as deputy director of engineering, Anczer has a strong social media presence where he promotes himself as "a top-producing Northwest Indiana Realtor at eXp Realty, serving St. John, Indiana, and the region.
"Born and raised in the south Chicago suburbs and a 17-plus year resident of Northwest Indiana, I know the region well. As a real estate agent licensed in both Illinois and Indiana, I can help you with real estate agent services in both Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland," his real estate website proclaims.
According to his Tony Anzcer Group Real Estate website, Anczer identifies 24 different Illinois communities and 16 different Indiana communities where he tries to find home buyers. Communities listed on his website include Homer Glen, Frankfort, Manhattan, New Lenox, Orland Park and Joliet. And for Indiana, it's St. John, Hammond, Dyer, Crown Point, Munster, Valparaiso and Indianapolis.
Anczer's LinkedIn profile includes career biographies for both of his professions. He joined Joliet as deputy director of engineering in July 2021, and he has been a real estate agent with eXp Realty since May 2021. Before joining Joliet, Anczer noted that he worked from October 2019 until July 2021 as public works director for the village of Schiller Park. He worked as assistant director of public works at the village of Flossmoor from May 2015 until September 2019.
Joliet Spokeswoman Explains City's Fuel-Card Rules
Prior to publishing this story, Joliet Patch reached out to Sydney Thompson, the city of Joliet's director of media engagement, in regard to Anczer's significant use of city fuel. Here were the key questions asked by Patch:
Patch: What are the main duties and job responsibilities that explain why Tony Anczer obtained a significant amount of taxpayer-funded city of Joliet fuel in 2025 and since he resumed using his fuel key/card this past July?
City's response: "Tony Anczer is the Deputy Director for Public Utilities. He is responsible for overseeing the City's engineering operations and all capital projects. This includes visiting various project sites and City facilities."
Patch: "Would it be acceptable conduct for any City of Joliet management staff to use their respective city fuel card/key for personal use such as driving to weekend trips, driving to music concerts, sport events or family outings?"
City's response: "No."
Patch: "Who is in charge of monitoring the City of Joliet's fuel pumps to ensure that city management staff is not abusing or taking advantage of the taxpayers?"
City's response: "The Public Works Department management staff monitors fuel pump usage by permitted staff."
Patch: "Can city management staff who have been granted access to a fuel key/card use the city of Joliet fuel pumps an unlimited number of times? Are there any caps in place to limit the number of times per week or month, or the number of gallons of gas allotted per month?"
City's response: "No, fuel access is not unlimited, and caps do exist. According to the City of Joliet Compensation Ordinance Section 13, permitted employees are allotted an annual calendar year average of up to 20 gallons of gasoline per week."
Patch: Regarding Joliet's fuel cards/keys, what, if anything else, would the City of Joliet like to clarify or explain to the residents?
Joliet's response: "The gas allowance was established by the City Council in Ordinance 16569 in 2009. The City of Joliet Compensation Ordinance Section 13 allows for permitted employees an annual calendar year average of up to 20 gallons of gasoline per week."
Joliet's Public Works Director Obtained Budget Amendment For City's Fuel Expenses
At the same time that Anczer and other city managers are being afforded free gas from the city's fuel pumps, Joliet's taxpayers are allocating more funds to pay for this fringe benefit.
Back in January, Joliet Public Works Director Greg Ruddy submitted a change order to the Joliet City Council seeking an extra $120,837 to help pay for the city's 2025 unleaded fuel purchases from the city's supplier, Al Warren Oil Company.
Back on Dec. 17, 2024, the mayor and council awarded the 2025 fuel contract to the Al Warren Oil Company in the total amount of $1,444,100. City manager Beth Beatty's memo indicated that Joliet purchases about 350,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline and 175,000 gallons of diesel annually.
In January's change order to the City Council, Ruddy stated that "unleaded fuel consumption is running slightly higher than estimated for 2025 but on par with 2024 usage levels. Change Order No. 1 is a net increase of $120,837."
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