In yet another blow to what might be America’s most corrupt mayor and her town, the Illinois Comptroller’s Office has suspended the payment of so-called “offset” funds to the village of Dolton.
The Chicago-area suburb, assiduous readers may remember, is the domain of Democratic Mayor Tiffany Henyard — currently being investigated by the FBI and under fire at home for profligate spending and not keeping financial records.
The city is reportedly in debt to the tune of $7 million, and an investigation by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot found that the village’s general fund balance dipped from $5.61 million in April 2022 to a deficit of $3.65 million in May 2024, according to WFLD.
It doesn’t help matters that the village has allegedly failed for two years “to submit required annual reports, including financial statements, audits, and Tax Increment Financing District (TIF) reports” to the state.
Thus, the state is withholding the “offset” payments, which are funds the state collects and distributes to cities. They can be withheld from municipalities who are delinquent in their responsibilities, and Mayor Henyard’s Dolton certainly meets those criteria.
“Our action yesterday is to protect the people of Dolton, who she is disrespecting with her behavior every day,” Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said of Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard. https://t.co/9VyiZe6oeY
— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) August 19, 2024
The offset funds were worth $120,000 in 2023 and would likely top $135,000 in 2024, according to the Chicago Tribune.
In addition, the comptroller’s office is looking into fines that could total as much as $78,600 if the reports aren’t filed.
Should Henyard be thrown out of office?
“When municipalities around Illinois are having legitimate problems filing their annual reports with us, based on staffing or other issues, we earnestly work with them to get them into compliance,” Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza said in a statement last week.
“Dolton is different. The Mayor’s office has refused to communicate with us or address the problem. If Mayor Henyard refuses to follow state law, my office will use the tools at our disposal to safeguard the interests of Dolton’s citizens.”
It’s not just that the city isn’t filing those reports — although that is a problem, and Mendoza said the village hadn’t been filing them for two years.
Dolton Village Clerk Allison Key said in an email that that she couldn’t perform Freedom of Information Act requests since Village Administrator Keith Freeman “has instructed department heads not to reply to any FOIA request” coming from Mendoza’s office, WFLD reported.
Dolton Trustee Jason House, who’s running for village mayor next year, said that the withholding of the offset funds “goes to many of the issues the board of trustees has raised already,” according to the Tribune.
“It is unfortunate it has come to this,” he said. “We’re going to press the [village] administration to take all steps necessary to provide the state with the required information.”
Well, good luck with that one. The mayor has dropped out of sight since investigations by both state and federal authorities were launched, including an FBI probe.
However, Henyard — who has been dubbed the “Super Mayor” of Dolton, if mostly by herself and her cronies — still has to answer for a series of allegations that range from extorting from local businesses to spending taxpayer money on a lavish Las Vegas trip. (There’s also a sexual misconduct claim involving one of the mayor’s allies associated with the Vegas jaunt, to boot.)
That trip was supposed to be in service of the “economic development” of the village. The village board found otherwise, noting a “a total failure to report anything relative to potential economic development, or any other events that took place in Las Vegas, to the Board of Trustees” in addition to reports of profligate excess in Sin City. (Imagine that.)
Henyard hasn’t actually offered a viable explanation for where all this money went — or even a non-viable one, like a magic hole to another dimension unfortunately situated in the village’s bank vault that sucked in a few million dollars while her administration wasn’t looking.
Instead, she resorted to the oldest trick in the politicians playbook: By asking her where the money went, you were being racist. Mayor Henyard is black, and apparently asking a black mayor to abide by the same transparency rules we expect other mayors to follow is straight-up bigotry.
“We’re here to help each other and not hurt each other,” she said back in April, according to WGN-TV.
“And it’s a shame that us — us, I’m talking to my black and brown communities — would sit here and fight.”
Residents of the community — which happens to be over 90 percent black, just in case you were wondering — weren’t buying this. The Illinois Comptroller’s Office isn’t either. Neither should you. It’s time for the “Super Mayor” to tender her super resignation and wait for the super felony charges to start pouring in.
