OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford From left to right, Dunkirk’s Councilman-at-large Nick Weiser, Fiscal Affairs Officer Ellen Luczkowiak, and Treasurer Mark Woods sit at a Common Council Finance Committee meeting last week.

The city of Dunkirk is currently “$2 million over in expenses, which we figured,” according to Fiscal Affairs Officer Ellen Luczkowiak.

Luczkowiak told the Common Council’s Finance Committee last week that with more revenue coming in, the city should break even at the end of 2025.

“We still have anticipated revenue coming in mid-December,” she said. Treasurer Mark Woods later said that will be from state aid derived through revenue sharing.

In addition, Woods said the city is getting $1,137,335 in fourth quarter sales tax revenue.

Luczkowiak said she was able to add $310,000 to the city’s general contingency budget line, used for unanticipated expenses.

Woods said the city has received all anticipated revenue on time so far this year.

Councilman-at-large Nick Weiser subsequently pushed to get all required information to the state Comptroller’s Office so it can certify the city’s debt.

Admitting it was an ambitious timeline, he wants the debt certified by the end of 2025 so the city can float bonds this year at the state’s lower interest rate. Dunkirk would get bad rates using its own terrible bond rating, if anyone even offered to do business in the first place.

Weiser said it would take about 30 days from the moment the Comptroller’s Office has all of its required information until the city’s debt is certified.

The bonds are a key part of the Fiscal Recovery Act passed for Dunkirk by the state Legislature in March 2024. The act allowed Dunkirk to bond for up to $18.5 million as a way to pump more revenue in. The state Comptroller’s Office started watchdog visits to City Hall’s financial offices as part of the deal; the visits have occurred regularly ever since.

However, the act proved no help to the city’s problems in the short term, due to the delay in certifying the debt. The city wound up taking out a Revenue Anticipation Note and also got a $13.7 million loan from the state that is supposed to be paid back out of the city’s future state aid.

And of course, Dunkirk also slammed its residents with an 84% property tax hike this year. A proposed tax hike of about 2% is in the city’s 2026 proposed budget.