2 weeks Ago
DUNKIRK, N.Y. — The city of Dunkirk is in trouble, currently facing a $20 million budget deficit and seeing its own treasure’s officer shut down by the state comptroller just last month.
State Senator George Borrello (R-NY 57th Senate District) believes he has a way to fix the financial crisis that’s been compounding for years, proposing a bill ( Senate Bill S7497 ) that would authorize the creation of a financial control board to oversee the city’s finances. RELATED: Fredonia residents could see 65% tax hike “The idea is to have an outside entity come in objectively and see what they can do to help right the ship there,” he said. “Hopefully, we can get folks that can really dig in and be able to look at what can be done to help improve the situation in Dunkirk.
” City officials have credited their financial situation to past issues at City Hall, a loss in population and the continued effects of the unexpected loss of its largest taxpayer in NRG Energy when the state shut the plant down back in 2016 — an entity that accounted for $3 million annually. “It’s been at least 12 years of not addressing an issue that could potentially have blown up, which has actually blown up,” Mayor Kate Wdowiasz (D) told 2 On Your Side last year. The combination of these factors prompted the city to address an 84% property tax hike this year as a solution to help better balance its budget.
But Borrello says that can’t be the answer. “Dunkirk is a poor community filled with lots of people on fixed income, low income folks,” Borrello said. “When that was proposed — and I understood why because their finances are so bad — but it also says we need to do some really hard looks at what's going on here.
” That’s why he feels there needs to be a board to oversee the current leadership, rather than replace them, and reteach them how to manage their finances in the future. He says it’s a strategy that worked in Buffalo in the early 2000s, helping the city recover from a significant budget deficit and depleted reserves. A similar board was created in Nassau County, Borrello said, and led to results.
The board will be made up of objective members appointed by the governor and state senate and assembly members. Borrello said he aims to bring together people with expertise in managing municipal finances. But receiving assistance from the state is nothing new for the city of Dunkirk, with the state recently providing $18.
5 million in assistance as a part of the Dunkirk Fiscal Recovery Act and oversight from the comptroller’s office on the budget. Borrello says this board will better fix the problem long term. “This is a control board, so this is a whole different entity than what was done before,” he said.
“I think that this board, along with the local elected officials and other stakeholders in the community, working together, we can help right the ship in Dunkirk.” The state senator’s goal is to get this bill passed in both the senate and assembly before the end of the session in June. 2 On Your Side reached out to the city of Dunkirk for a statement on the bill, but did not hear back.
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