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Getting by for the year

One comment made last week put a lot of perspective on all budgets put together annually by the schools and municipalities. Consider this statement by Dunkirk Councilwoman Stacy Szukala.

“By passing this budget tonight, we’re only getting through another 12 months,” she said. “We haven’t budgeted past 12 months for any type of catastrophe, any capital equipment needs. If there was ever a year to raise taxes, unfortunately I think this would have been the year. We have people here who are wanting a contract and who have been without a contract for some time, but the budget we have in front of us, we didn’t put a penny into any of your personnel lines — not one. … Nobody wanted to raise taxes, nobody wanted to be that council, so here we sit — we have fire halls that need to be replaced and worked on, we have roads that are crumbling. … Every vote that I put in, I think of the taxpayers that are paying the bills, as all of us do, and I just don’t think this budget works for me.”

There is a lot of truth in her comments. Most budgets are put together this way as infrastructure crumbles. Just get through another year with little thought to future worst-case scenarios.

It is very similar to how Forestville was being run in the last decade. But when an emergency happened and a building needed to be demolished, there was no money. They needed a major tax hike — and within 20 days, the village will no longer exist.

Silver Creek’s in the same boat. And so is Fredonia.

So why do so many residents here accept this shoddy process year after year? Maybe it’s because they are afraid of change — and sharing services with neighbors.

But the real fears are in the current situation. Like Szukala said, Dunkirk and all municipalities are a “catastrophe” away from a real serious crisis.

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