OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Dunkirk City School District Superintendent Brian Swatland points out the district’s new logo at a Dunkirk Board of Education meeting Tuesday.

A big theme at the latest Dunkirk Board of Education meeting was buffing up the city school district’s image. A new logo debuted — and business administrator Mike Mansfield offered a reminder that any property tax hikes suffered by residents are not the district’s fault.

Mansfield pointedly said at least three times that the city school district did not raise its tax levy for 2025-26 from the previous year’s amount. He stated that some residents may see a hike in their bills because the state’s real property tax department lowered property assessment equalization rates in the area.

Mansfield showed a chart with the rates. The state reduced its equalization rate for the city from 50% to 44%. The rate went down 1% in the town of Dunkirk, to a new rate of 50%. In the town of Sheridan, it went from 43% to 40%. Lower equalization rates usually lead to higher taxable property values.

“We set the levy — the assessor sets the (value of) properties for each town or city,” Mansfield also noted.

He said he gave the presentation “to make sure that if you get any phone calls that taxes aren’t the same as last year,” school officials can offer an explanation.

Mansfield spoke during the report of Superintendent Brian Swatland, who showed a new logo featuring the Dunkirk Lighthouse and the words “One Dunkirk” shortly thereafter. Swatland designed the logo.

The superintendent joked that his first attempt at a lighthouse looked more like one on Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, but he was pushed to portray the structure at Point Gratiot.

“We want to be one,” Swatland said in explaining the “One Dunkirk” branding. “We want to be together. We always want to work as hard as we can for our students and the community.”

The new logo adorned Board of Education members’ name cards.