One day after a report on an investigation of the village’s finances revealed that south suburban Dolton is over $3.5 million in debt, Mayor Tiffany Henyard – who is accused of misusing taxpayer funds – was nowhere to be seen. Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was brought in by the village board to look into Henyard’s management of village finances, released initial findings that the village is not only in significant debt, but that credit card spending is excessive. Henyard has not replied to requests for comment and was absent from Dolton Village Hall on Friday.
Her office did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. Village employees stated that Henyard was not in the office and did not provide any information about her return.
During a special village meeting on Thursday night, Lightfoot revealed that her preliminary investigation of Dolton’s finances showed that the village’s general fund had a negative balance of $3.65 million as of May 31. Lightfoot was hired by village trustees who were concerned about spending – such as self-promoting taxpayer-funded billboards, advertisements, and extravagant dinners and trips.
Dolton Trustee Brittney Norwood spoke with the CBS News Chicago Investigators in February, stating that trustees were denied access to 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 excessive credit card spending and rarely provided receipts for credit card purchases, Lightfoot also discovered questionable spending. The report reveals $40,000 spent on Amazon purchases in one day – money that cannot be accounted for.
“These are someone using one of the credit cards,” Lightfoot said.
Another lingering question concerns money spent on police overtime, with two officers earning six figures in overtime pay last year, more than doubling their base pay. One officer earned $108,000 in overtime alone in Fiscal Year 2023, and $114,000 in Fiscal Year 2024—compared to a regular pay of $72,000 in FY2023 and $87,000 in FY2024. The other officer accumulated $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 was terminated last week, received $96,000 in overtime pay last fiscal year. “The village has been unable to cover all of its monthly expenses with its available cash balance,” Lightfoot said. None of the village’s trustees responded to requests for comment on Lightfoot’s report.
