DUNKIRk: Time has come for control board | News, Sports, Jobs

Wednesday’s budget presentation at Dunkirk’s City Hall is exactly the reason New York state failed the municipality by not instituting a control board to oversee its finances. This is not to place blame on a nine-month mayor who has been placed into a situation of fiscal disarray, but just a reality.

Let’s do it. Local officials — as much as they point blame at Albany — are in no way capable of managing funding or important choices. Dunkirk is a perfect example.

After borrowing $16 million from the state to cover expenses for the final eight months of this year, it has proposed a budget that more than doubles the tax rate from $18.12 to $37.74 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Despite the turmoil, its budget was not reduced. This year’s plan of $26 million is increased to $28.9 million for 2025.

How can that happen when the city is drowning in debt? Simply put, the critical and painful actions are not being taken.

For-profit companies that face financial difficulties have to cut back on expenses, often by reducing the workforce. Dunkirk is not doing that. Instead, it appears to be business as usual with the anvil of a tax increase attached to property taxpayers next year.

How does a city with a 26% poverty rate think this plan is best in moving forward? We all know mistakes have been made over the last four years, but it all does not fall to one person or branch of government.

We’ll note again the lack of responsibility by all elected officials in proposing and approving flawed budgets, buying millions of dollars of equipment without knowing finances and the arrogant use of federal funds in a $300,000 bonus to employees and elected officials in 2021. They did all this without any knowledge of a balance sheet.

Isn’t fiscal responsibility the No. 1 job of an elected board and officials? Claims of ignorance regarding the situation from 2020 to 2024 are an outright admission the city spent carelessly.

A control board would fix this by making tough decisions while having the ability to amend contracts and put in wage freezes that this administration and council cannot.

Instead, the current direction is to have the property owners pay for years of chaotic oversight. That’s a painful pill.

Having a control board would be tougher on the government, but the downtown spending party needs to stop. This city has a population of 12,500 residents. Its budget proposal is a bloated $28.9 million.

Do we really think this council is capable of coming up with a better plan? Of course not.

For residents who are upset, make your voice heard. Maybe reaching out to the state comptroller’s office to demand a control board is the best way to go.

Residents can reach Thomas DiNapoli’s office by email at [email protected] or by calling at 518-474-4044 and state your opinion for a control board to take over. Of course, they can also remain silent and let current city leaders manage this mess.

For historical purposes, that is exactly what got Dunkirk into this dire situation.