OBSERVER Photo As Dunkirk went dark during Monday’s eclipse, the former NRG power plant remained the same during the event.

Dunkirk’s former power generating station located on the shores of Lake Erie has always been a love-hate relationship for its residents. City, school and county officials historically understood the payoff it brought in terms of adding to a deteriorating tax base and high-paying jobs.

But there was a larger curse.

Homeowners on Lake Front Boulevard, when the winds blew from the west, would complain about having to sweep their porches while cleaning their homes from the soot and ash that were created as waste from the 1960s to late 1990s during the plant’s operation. Runoff also seeped into Lake Erie with barely a care during that same time as the waters became one of the most toxic in the nation.

Improvements while the facility was in operation took place in the early 2000s. By 2009, Dunkirk’s emissions were said to be some of the cleanest at any coal-burning location in the nation.

As the plant sits idle today, the region’s environment has benefited greatly. Walleye fishing remains some of the finest in the world.

Home exteriors nearby are no longer bombarded from the coal waste that came from the smokestacks when it was operated as Niagara Mohawk. In addition, the air near the city’s Memorial Park and Pier just seems crisper and fresher.

Those rays of sunshine allowed for a rebirth in the natural world while clouding a rust-belt city’s fiscal future. That prime location, which continues to be under the ownership of NRG Energy Inc., is not contributing at all currently to the city coffers — through taxes or an annual payment to the city, county and school district.

Up until last month, the city and its elected officials appeared to be avoiding the pain of that loss. Today, there’s no hiding the fact the former power plant that operated for more than six decades created a gluttonous spending problem for a bloated government operation.

Dunkirk, with a population of 12,600 residents, has a budget of $26 million for this year. The amount the city collects in property taxes is around $5.3 million.

That does not even begin to cover the expenses associated with its payroll. According to seethroughny.net, the city has 162 employees who earn nearly $10.1 million.

During the early years of the first payment in lieu of taxes deal that was agreed to by NRG and the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency, the city of Dunkirk received around $4 million annually. That amount began decreasing in a second contract that was ratified in the early 2010s.

Once the station quit operating in 2016, the decline in payments became steeper until the funding ran out in 2023. Amounts started at a combined total of $8 million to the city, school and county. The annual sliding scale bottomed out at $420,000 last year.

During that period, city officials were spending full throttle as major revenues went away. COVID Relief Funding, better known as the CARES Act, helped keep the coffers afloat as did the American Rescue Plan Act, which was $11 million in cash over a three-year period.

Shortly after new Mayor Kate Wdowiasz took office in January, she learned the tragic truth about Dunkirk’s fiscal state that began to come to light last summer when council members approved a $5.5 million loan to pay expenses. It is currently one of the outstanding bills that need to be paid, as part of an $18 million bailout that has made the municipality’s credit rating worthless.

That, by the way, does nothing to change how Dunkirk is structured or does business. Employee numbers and contracts are not likely to change, but taxes will be going up drastically for property owners to cover that high-stakes loan.

It is another in a tough line of lessons for Chautauqua County that its elected leaders, schools and residents refuse to acknowledge. We’re not growing. We’re shrinking. Asking those who remain to pay more to maintain failing public institutions is not fair — and one of the reasons so many are moving away.

Inflation wreaks havoc on us all, including governments and schools already have 3% automatic contractual increases every year. As long as our one county that includes two cities, 27 towns, 13 villages and 18 school districts continues this configuration, there’s no fixing a system that encourages our youth and retirees to venture elsewhere.

Even when our largest county taxpayer in NRG closed in 2016, nothing was done to tighten the reins — in the city, its school district and the county. What’s that say about our region?

Government and schools ultimately control too much of this economy. It promotes higher taxes and much less private investment.

As the last 50 years have proven for this county, that is a losing formula.

John D’Agostino is the editor of The Post-Journal, OBSERVER and Times Observer in Warren, Pa. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call 716-487-1111, ext. 253.