Newcastle City Council CEO, Jeremy Bath says that he will be investigating communications between councillors and The Newcastle Herald after the newspaper published details of the council's budget earlier this month.
The document outlined the potential cost of projects around Newcastle, and Bath is worried this will mean it will cost council millions more to complete the projects.
Bath believes the information should have been confidential and says that releasing the document to the media was a breach of trust.
However, independent councillor Kath Elliot says that the public has the right to know about what the council are doing with their money.
"I think it's very important that the community has a good understanding of the council's finances, given that it's community money and that it's community facilities that we provide, and to have an investigation into a document which wasn't confidential seems to me to be a rather odd thing to do," she says.
Elliot believes the council should take a more open approach to running the city.
"I think it's absolutely imperative that we have open and transparent governance in Newcastle City Council and that does not appear to be happening at the moment," she says.
"The Labor Party campaigned an open and transparent governance, and for them to say now that they want to keep things a secret from the community who pay their rates is outrageous."
