Self-styled Illinois “super mayor” Tiffany Henyard has spent gobs of cash from her debt-ridden small town’s coffers — burning thousands on unapproved ice rinks, constant parties and luxurious travel, and upwards of million dollars on pay for local cops serving as her personal security detail.
“The spending has become unbearable for the residents. It’s parties and a lot of events. It’s resources in reference to making it look like something is being done, but we really can’t afford it,” said Dolton, Illinois, trustee, Kiana Belcher.
Mayor Henyard, a failed burger joint boss, has come under fire in recent months for her outlandish antics and questionable spending — including hiring a DJ to punctuate her points during government meetings, and co-opting cops to dance in her music videos — which have left residents and local leadership alike outraged.
“A million dollars of overtime for the police department is absurd. We can’t afford it,” Belcher added.
A small village of about 20,000 people just south of Chicago, Dolton now fnds itself drowning under $5 million in debt — which trustee Jason House said started piling up shortly after Henyard took office in 2021.
She explained how her inaguration party cost $15,000 which Henyard initially said her campaign would pay for, but instead charged to the village.
“If there is a party, she’s going to make it happen,” Belcher said, pointing out a Valentine’s Day party that was held at the town’s ice rink on Wednesday night.
The rink was built in the fall of 2022 when Henyard allegedly went over the heads of the village board and ordered it to be built on public land at a cost of $115,000, putting down a $10,000 deposit.
When the board found out they halted the rest of the rink payments, so Henyard went around them again and ordered a rink from a separate company which successfully installed it.
That rink was completed days before a crucial election for Henyard, according to Illinois Answers. During a grand opening for the rink, the mayor published a video mocking the town board.
“Remember: when all five of them trustees said no, look what God did!” she said, cackling.
Residents and local leadership have not been as amused.
“It’s no transparency. You ask questions and they don’t want to give you the information. As the legislative body, we pay the bills,” said Belcher, who complained that the rink only ever gets used when Henyard allows it.
In September 2022, Henyard and the town board voted to donate $10,000 to her own foundation, which purports to support cancer patients — a foundation which was chartered with the state the very day the donation was voted on, according to documents reviewed by Illinois Answers Project and FOX 32.
A month later, Henyard organized a 10-day walk and bike ride across the state to Springfield in the name of her foundation, but charged most of the trip to the Dolton credit card.
In total, the trip cost about $11,000 in hotels, restaurants, photographers, DJs, and supplies, according to FOX 32, and utilized an armada of town-owned vehicles to escort the walk.
Additionally, records showed the town spent over $17,000 on branded sweatshirts and t-shirts just a week before the walk, but then refused to disclose what the merchandise was for. During the walk, Henyard gave away branded foundation sweatshirts and t-shirts, which were also available for about $30 on the foundation’s website.
Henyard’s penchant for throwing parties and taking trips on the town’s dime has become another problem for many in Dolton.
Trips to Atlanta, Austine, and New York City — on which she frequently flew first class and stayed in ritzy hotels like the Four Seasons — taken during Henyard’s term ran the city over $67,000, according to records obtained by WGN9.
Her use of local cops as a personal security detail since 2021 has also cost the town about seven figures in overtime pay for officers assigned to the job.
“The contract says that you can have a detail but it should be on their shift and it changes. But with her people, they pick up at 10 a.m. and drop off at 12, one in the morning so it’s all overtime hours” Belcher said.
“They pick up her daughter from school, they go shopping,” she added.
“The previous mayor had these decoy cop cars, where they’ll have a car there but no one’s actually in it. So that’ a deterrent enough for most people but that wasn’t enough for her,” explained trustee Brittney Norwood.
Henyard’s spending has gotten so bad trustees have sued her, accusing her of forging checks and withholding financial records.
The mayor admonished the trustees over the suit in a fiery townhall last week and accused them of attacking her for being black — even as many of them are black themselves.
“You all should be ashamed of yourselves because you all are black. You all are black,” Henyard said at the meeting. “And you all [are] sitting up here beating and attacking a black woman that’s in power.”
Henyard also serves as the Thornton Township supervisor. Between her two positions, she pulls a salary of about $285,000.
She refused to answer questions when approached by The Post during the Valentine’s Day party Wednesday.
Before taking office, Henyard ran a burger joint, Good Burger, in the South Suburban College cafeteria, which went out of business. As of last spring, she still owed the college about $1,500 in unpaid bills related to the venture, according to FOX 32.
In 2016, she was arrested and charged with criminal trespass to vehicles, according to Chicago Police records. It is unclear what became of the charges and enquireies went unanswered Wednesday.
