Dolton Mayor Jason House reflects on first year in office after defeating embattled Tiffany Henyard
The new mayor of south suburban Dolton celebrated his first year in office this week. Mayor Jason House took office last May after easily defeating his headline-grabbing, embattled predecessor, Tiffany Henyard, in 2025's municipal elections.
Henyard had brought lots of attention to the small suburb, much of it for questionable spending, and House is trying his best to move on from the controversial Henyard administration.
Doing so isn't so easy, especially after he revealed the village's finances were worse than previously thought once he took over the books.
Sitting down for an in-depth conversation House reflected on taking his oath one year ago this week.
"You run for office with the intention that you're going to get in there, all the great ideas, and we're going to serve everybody, and it's just going to happen just like that," he said. "Then, coming into the position, realizing of course where we came from with financial challenges, still having that passion to get things done, and recognizing that there are obstacles that may not have been obvious on the front end."
The finances of Dolton under Henyard catapulted the suburb of just 20,000 people into the national spotlight.
When Henyard took office in 2021, the village had a surplus of $5.6 million, but after the village board – on which House served at the time – hired former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to investigate Henyard's alleged misuse of funds in 2024, Lightfoot found the village faced a deficit of more than $3.5 million.
One year later, where does the village stand?
"As we dug a little bit further, and we were some months after that report, it actually had ballooned up to $8 million," House said. "We found inefficiencies in the way that things had been operating."
House said he learned basic administrative tasks just didn't happen before he took office, like requiring businesses to renew their expired licenses.
Now, along Martin Luther King Drive near the village hall, there's a number of new businesses.
"We went from issuing a little bit over 100 business licenses to close to 300," he said.
The mayor said some willing businesses could not get a license under Henyard's administration for unknown reasons.
"We've taken great strides to remove that red tape," he said.
House said that is helping to open doors for new businesses, and to reduce the village's deficit to $6.5 million in his first year.
House hasn't had an easy year. His pick for the new fire chief brought a vote of no confidence by the firefighters' union, which complained House's pick wasn't qualified. The mayor claimed firefighters were upset overtime was cut, which he said saved the village $30,000 a year.
Interim fire chief Quention "Q" Curtis last month agreed to take voluntary leave from the department.
"If the appearance is one side won, one side lost, but the department is functioning, then the village won," House said.
The mayor acknowledged the village has long way to go to recover financially. Dolton isn't bond certified, which keeps it from borrowing money, but House said they were able to get financing to purchase what has become a huge win for the village – Pope Leo XIV's childhood home.
You can watch more of House's interview with Jermont Terry in the player below.