The city of Dunkirk continues to work with the state Comptroller’s Office on catching up its payments to the state retirement system for municipal employees.

However, it was unclear as of this week if Dunkirk will be able to make payments that were due as of Feb. 1. There are supposed to be payments made into three retirement systems: police, fire, and other municipal employees.

City Fiscal Affairs Officer Ellen Luczkowiak “can’t answer that question,” she said, when asked if Dunkirk would make its Feb. 1 payments.

The state is “well aware of it, and yes, we still owe them,” she said. “It’s something we’re working on little by little.”

Luczkowiak said she and Mayor Kate Wdowiasz were blindsided upon taking office in 2024 by the hundreds of thousands of dollars the city owes. They did not know the extent of the problem until they got to City Hall.

“Neither of us knew any of this,” Luczkowiak said. “When we realized to what degree, to what amount that is, we immediately let the state know we had this problem.”

She said it was a “big reason” the state Legislature passed a Fiscal Recovery Act last spring to pump millions into city coffers — in exchange for a close Comptroller’s Office watch on city finances.

According to the 2025 city spending plan, retirement costs for 2023 and 2024 total more than $3.6 million with $3.2 million of that tied to the fire and police departments. This year’s retirement expenses are budgeted to be more than $2.5 million.

Some in the community want more from the state: they want a control board to run Dunkirk’s finances. Luczkowiak said she and the mayor are among those who want that, too.

“We wanted a control board originally, but the state said, ‘We’re not picking you for that,'” Luczkowiak said.

She cautioned that when it comes to both the city’s retirement shortfall and its overall financial picture, fixing it is “not going to be overnight. It’s going to take time.”