Dolton officials submitted a plan to the court with three options to pay off a $33.5 million judgment it owes as a result of a fatal 2016 police chase that killed one man and left another severely and permanently injured.
The judgment was awarded in 2022, and has accumulated interest in the four years since, bringing the total owed to families of John Kyles and Duane Dunlap to $40.6 million as of February 2026.
A copy of the plan shared by village attorneys listed three options, the first of which was to pay off the judgement over a period of 10 years by raising property taxes.
The filing stated that would be mean “economic devastation” for Dolton’s businesses and residents, many of whom are senior citizens living on fixed incomes.
“Mayor House, the Board of Trustees, and the Village staff/consultants do not believe this is a viable option,” the plan said.
Increases would first appear on spring 2028 property tax bills, and payment would be completed in fall 2037, according to the plan.
The village suggested instead it could use other revenue sources to pay off the obligation, including adding red-light cameras, enforcing a tax on video gambling machines and redirecting funds being used to satisfy a now-settled legal obligation to the city of Chicago.
The village has three red-light cameras and would add three to six more to generate between $1.7 million and $3.4 million in annual revenues, according to the plan. Red-light cameras generate municipal revenue by capturing traffic violations, for which drivers are then fined.
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Adding the additional cameras will require approval from the Illinois Department of Transportation.
An ordinance approving a push tax, or a penny-per-play fee, on video gambling terminals was passed in October 2021, but never enforced and there are legal challenges pending to such a tax. The village projects it could collect $180,000 annually by enforcing the push tax.
Finally, the village reached a settlement with Chicago regarding payments for past due water billing, and the last of those payments will be made in December 2026, according to the plan. The court filing said the $1.1 million dollars the village pays annually to Chicago could be dedicated toward the judgment.
All told, the addition of those three funding sources would allow the village to pledge about $300,000 monthly, the plan states. The village is also continuing to look for other revenue sources, it said.
The village proposed it could use that added revenue in combination with the Illinois Municipal Securitization Act, which allows a municipality to pledge a fixed revenue source to secure financing, similar to a bond issue.
That would allow the plaintiffs to receive their money sooner and prevent any increase in property taxes. With that method, the plaintiffs would be paid in the next few months, once the transaction closed, the plan states.
The third option is for the village to use the same three revenue sources to make $2.75 million annual payments for the next 20 years, which would result in the village paying a total of $55 million, the plan states.
Dolton is also attempting to recover funds through lawsuits.
The village is suing its insurance company, American Alternative Insurance Corporation, and a motion to dismiss brought by the insurance company was recently denied by a judge. Dolton has blamed the insurance company’s failure to settle the police chase lawsuit before or during the trial for the eventual size of the judgment.
Dolton is also suing Fifth Third Bank for an alleged $1.9 million in misappropriations by former Mayor Tiffany Henyard. In that lawsuit, the village claims the bank allowed Henyard to authorize checks that did not include the signature of the village clerk.
The next court date regarding the judgment has been set for May 26.