Festivals in the city have never been more popular as droves of people gather to celebrate everything from the Fourth of July to Picnic at the Point. However, one issue remains to be addressed, the costs and profits of these festivals.

At the recent meeting of the Common Council, one concerned resident asked this question and Councilman-at-large Andy Woloszyn shared his response.

“We haven’t seen any figures or budgets either,” Woloszyn said. “For four years I have asked for the financial reports from the DLDC (Dunkirk Land Development Corporation) for all of our events.”

Woloszyn went on to state that he has been refused a financial report from the DLDC multiple times, with the exception of a year end report because, according to him, it was ‘just too difficult to make the report during the year.’ The reason he’s purportedly been given is that because all of the events that are going on, too much is coming in and going out, so the city wouldn’t get a clear picture of the money.

“This year we did receive a financial report,” Woloszyn added, citing a DLDC meeting earlier this year. “It’s not specific to any one particular event, that says ‘here’s our budget, here’s our expenses for this particular line item, here’s our income for this particular line item during that event.’ I would love to be able to get those types of things, I’ve asked for four years to be able to get those types of things.”

Woloszyn sits on the DLDC board, ex-officio, due to the fact that he’s the head of the Finance Committee for the city of Dunkirk, this grants him the indulgence of being able to ask for the figures he wouldn’t normally be able to get as a councilman.

“It (the DLDC) is a separate entity from the city of Dunkirk. I’ve asked as a councilman and I’ve even been told as a councilman that I can’t ask for those because it’s a separate entity,” Woloszyn noted.

“I agree with you, it’s a simple question to ask, it would be great to find out,” Woloszyn continued, “to see how we can change things, how we can add things, how we can make things better, how we can eliminate things that aren’t working. Those questions have been asked, not all the information has been provided.”

Woloszyn added that he has brought this issue to the New York State Auditor’s attention. He informed that that no quarterly reports are given, and according to him, the auditor was surprised that there aren’t even monthly reports, let alone that quarterly reports up until now.