FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): The Fort Wayne City Council’s so-called “pay to play” ordinance took effect just days after Mayor Tom Henry received some big last-minute campaign donations from some engineering and law firms.

That’s according to the Journal Gazette, who report that Henry received $29,000 in combined donations from a number of firms on December 29th.

The Council’s bill, which bars companies that donate more than $2,000 to an elected official’s campaign fund from getting city contracts, went into effect on January 1st. Henry says the donors just wanted to get their gifts into their 2017 budgets.

City Councilman John Crawford tells the paper that while none of the donations were illegal, they confirmed for him that the Council did the right thing in passing the bill.