Mayor Kate Wdowiasz said she will veto budget changes by the council.

The state Comptroller’s Office said this week that it’s up the city of Dunkirk to get a 2025 budget passed.

The office “does not have any veto power over the city of Dunkirk’s budget,” said Mark Johnson, press secretary for New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

Johnson said the Comptroller’s Office role in Dunkirk’s budget process is laid out in the Fiscal Recovery Act for the city. Quoting the Act, he said the state office is to “examine such proposed budget and make such recommendations as deemed appropriate thereon to the city prior to the adoption of the budget.”

Johnson added, “the Act further provides that ‘[t]he city council, no later than five days prior to the adoption of the budget, shall review any such recommendations and make adjustments to the proposed budget consistent with any recommendations made by the state comptroller.'”

The Comptroller’s Office has regularly had representatives at City Hall since the state Legislature approved Dunkirk’s Fiscal Recovery Act.

The office has already made its 2025 budget recommendations, in a Nov. 27 letter to the city. The letter criticized Mayor Kate Wdowiasz’s proposal as “not balanced,” with more revenue than expenditures in the general fund. Proposed deficits in other funds also got hit. In addition, the city’s financial recordkeeping got slammed, with the city Common Council told to make updating and correcting records “a priority.”

The Common Council voted 5-0 to approve amendments of Wdowiasz’s 2025 budget proposal Tuesday – but the mayor intends to veto some of the changes.

Councilperson-at-large Nick Weiser said the amendments took into account the Comptroller’s Office recommendations. Any Wdowiasz vetoes can be overridden if four council members vote to do so.

The changes cut an approximately 108% property tax hike in Wdowiasz’s proposal down to about 69%, Weiser said – cautioning that the number could still change.

Weiser said this week that the council is exploring moving to uniform water and wastewater rates. The declining block rates used now allows large, industrial customers to pay less per gallon above certain amounts of usage.

The change would have “no bearing” on residential rates, Weiser said. As it is now, “It gets to a point where it costs more to produce it then we’re selling it for.”

The city must finalize its 2025 budget by Dec. 15.