Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard nowhere to be found after report reveals huge village debt
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A day after a report on a probe of the village's finances found south suburban Dolton is more than $3.5 million in the red, Mayor Tiffany Henyard – who is accused of misusing taxpayer money – was nowhere to be found.
Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was hired by the village board to investigate Henyard's handling of village finances, released preliminary findings that the village is not only in significant debt, but that credit card spending is out of control.
Henyard hasn't responded to requests for comment, and wasn't at Dolton Village Hall on Friday. Her office did not respond to repeated requests for an interview.
Village employees said Henyard wasn't in the office, and didn't say when she would be.
At a special village meeting Thursday night, Lightfoot announced her preliminary investigation of Dolton's finances found the village's general fund had a negative balance of $3.65 million as of May 31.
Lightfoot was hired by village trustees concerned about spending - like self-promoting taxpayer-funded billboards, ads, and spending on lavish dinners and trips.
Dolton Trustee Brittney Norwood sat down with the CBS News Chicago Investigators in February, saying trustees were denied requested bank statements.
"The last time I received the bank statement was in September of last year, and we were $7 million in debt at that time," Norwood said at the time. "So at this current moment, we're saying, 'Hey, where are the bank statements? So we can know where we are.'"
With credit card spending out of control, and receipts for credit card purchases rarely provided, Lightfoot further uncovered spending that doesn't add up. The report shows $40,000 spent on Amazon purchases in one day – money that's unaccounted for.
"These are somebody using one of the credit cards," Lightfoot said.
Another question lingering question remains about money spent on police overtime, with two officers racking up six figures in pure overtime last year, more than doubling their base pay.
One officer made $108,000 in overtime alone in Fiscal Year 2023, and $114,000 in Fiscal Year 2024—up against a regular pay of $72,000 in FY2023 and $87,000 in FY2024. The other officer racked up $87,000 in overtime in FY2023 and $102,000 in FY2024, against regular pay of $55,000 in FY2023 and $73,000 in FY2024.
Deputy Chief Lewis Lacey, who placed on administrative leave last week, was paid $96,000 in overtime last fiscal year.
"The village has been unable to pay all of its monthly expenditures with its available cash balance," Lightfoot said.
None of the village's trustees responded to requests for comment on Lightfoot's report.
Editor's note: this article has been updated to correct that Lacey is on administrative leave, and was not fired.
