Officials are investigating the disappearance of $40,000 from a fund entrusted to the city when the Government Finance Officers Association held its 2000 convention in Chicago, the comptroller’s office said Thursday.
“The money was not taken from a City of Chicago account, but an account set up for the Government Finance Officers Association to pay for the cost of hosting their 2000 national conference,” according to a statement released by the comptroller’s office after Tribune inquiries. “At no time did the account include any funds belonging to the City of Chicago.”
An administrative assistant in the city comptroller’s office, identified as Dolores Gilmartin, quit on Tuesday after being questioned when “it became clear that the discrepancies … were linked to [her],” the comptroller’s office statement said.
Attempts to reach Gilmartin for comment were unsuccessful.
The city hosted the association’s annual conference in 2000 and, as a matter of tradition, handled the professional association’s finances for the event, said city spokeswoman Lisa Schrader.
After disbursing money to cover expenses, including a “thank-you event” for the meeting’s sponsors after the event, city Comptroller Phoebe Selden was preparing to transfer what remained to an account for the organization’s 2002 meeting when she discovered the shortage, Schrader said.
The case is being investigated by the city’s Office of Inspector General, and the matter is expected to be referred to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, officials said.
Money in the account was from “a variety of sources, ranging from sponsors of the event to the sale of souvenir items like T-shirts,” Schrader said.
