GOWANDA — At the end of Mayor David Smith’s State of the Village address and Village Budget summary, Smith made a different announcement.

“I would like to announce for the public’s benefit,” Smith said, “the first lady and I talked about it, and we’ll be donating my entire mayor salary this fiscal year to various non-profit organizations in the village.”

Some of the non-profits included in Smith’s donation are the Gowanda Hollywood Theatre, the Gowanda Free Library, the Gowanda Fire Department, and the Gowanda Ambulance Department. As for why Smith decided to do it, he said it’s part of his duty as a public servant.

“I believe I am a public servant,” Smith said. “That means to give what you can, when you can. Every one of those nonprofits that I mentioned normally has fundraisers that they make money off to sustain viability. Due to the pandemic, many of those fundraisers have been cancelled or limited.”

Smith said he and his wife made the decision to donate his $8,000 salary during their Valentine’s Day dinner this past February. Smith didn’t want to make the announcement though, until he had officially been re-elected last week, not wanting to sway possible voters one way or another.

“Those organizations all benefit lots of people in our community,” Smith said. “Over the last 12 months, those fundraisers they normally have can’t be held, so we thought why not? We’ve been fortunate, we haven’t lost any income. Lots of people have. Lots of people who benefit from those nonprofits lost money.”

Smith went on to thank his team, including his clerk Danielle Wagner, deputy mayor Carol Sheibley, Treasurer Traci Hopkins, and the Board of Trustees, including Aaron Markham, Wanda Kock, and Paul Zimmerman.