CHICOPEE, Mass. - City councilor Delmarina Lopez is running for mayor of Chicopee and in one of her campaign's first moves, she's calling for an investigation into what she said are reports the city paid out health care premiums to employees who were no longer working for the city and, in some cases, to people who had died.

"Multiple current employees actually came to me with this information," Lopez said.  "Those employees have also expressed their concern for the current administration to retaliate against them at this time."

Lopez said city councilors weren't aware of the alleged mismanagement prior to her public statement Tuesday but said the alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars could've been going on for a while.

"Allegedly this could've possibly been going on for years," Lopez said "So that's why we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been mismanaged."

Chicopee Mayor John Vieau said it can be a very complicated process when it comes to managing benefits because of the number of city employees and there are situations when deaths or resignations may not be reported right away.

"We have 2,800 employees and I'm going to say approximately 1,000 retirees, and then you also add family members of those employees or the retirees themselves who maybe receiving benefits," Vieau said. "So sometimes when it comes to- I'll use dental insurance first. We found out in November, December that there could be some potential employees that don't work here any longer or may have been deceased in the retirement program who are receiving dental benefits that haven't been canceled."

Vieau said he's unsure just how long this has been happening or how much money may have been paid out incorrectly. He said the city does annual audits and for the most part these issues are addressed properly.

He said the city is working with an Employers Association of the Northeast to do an audit and the city is looking to hire staff so similar mistakes doesn't happen again.

"It's not secret that the HR director has left," Vieau said. "That there's been turnover in that department and others that have been short staffed and this is something that is a compliance issue that needs to be addressed and we're addressing it as we speak."

But, Lopez said she'd prefer an auditor the city hasn't worked with before come in to allow for a more thorough investigation.

"I think it's important for us to use an independent auditor because with mismanagement of funds, it's very easy for things to be swept under the rug if they're not looked into properly," Lopez said.  "And I think the residents deserve to know how they're taxpayer dollars are being used and spent and especially when they're being mismanaged."