The Dunkirk Common Council approved ending the city’s separate garbage and Boardwalk budget funds.

The votes on ending each fund were 4-1, with Councilwoman Nancy Nichols opposed.

Mayor Kate Wdowiasz previously offered her take on why Dunkirk was rolling the funds back into the city’s general budget fund.

“We are really trying to move forward and get things as accurate as possible. It was nearly impossible to give a percentage of a person to a Boardwalk fund or garbage/ refuse fund, when those are mostly our streets and parks people,” she said. “It was expressed to me that clarity would come from moving those into the general fund. I may be wrong, I’m not an expert in it, I’ll be the first one to admit it. That was a suggestion that was made to me.”

Nichols had some comments of her own when it was time to vote.

When the garbage fund was established, “it was established for purposes — to have monies to purchase a packer every other year or three years, and to pay for wages for six personnel,to run the packers. We don’t even know what exact dollar amount is in this account, and we’ve been asking for this figure for years and we never get any answers … so we actually need to know what that fund balance is in that account and it should have quite a substantial amount in it. Do you have that information, mayor?”

“We are in a current deficit, I’m not sure where you think we have a fund balance, anywhere,” Wdowiasz said. “It’s not a standalone account, you’re incorrect in thinking it’s a standalone account, it’s never been a standalone account, it literally goes into the general fund. We try to track our tipping fees as best that we can and I know there have been problems historically with the Treasurer’s Office tracking those fees and the way that’s been recorded.

“So, to your point, while it looks like every year there is about $100,000 in a surplus in that account, every other account has been in the negative.”

“So where’s the money going?” Nichols retorted.

“It would go into the general fund so we can make payroll every week,” Wdowiasz said.

Nichols later complained that the Boardwalk is in a $20,000 deficit but should not be, in part because the city is getting shorted on rent. “Unfortunately, on the east side there, we have someone who has not paid any rent for approximately 30 months, which comes out to an amount of $16,500, at a rate of $550 a month.”

She also criticized a lack of maintenance on the building. “That building has not been maintained at all. It’s an insult that we could let it go… I’m just appalled, and my late husband and I were on the ground floor of this structure being built by a deceased mayor and a deceased economic development mayor. I wish they were here today to add to my testimony of what I just said.”

Nichols challenged the assertion in the resolutions that they were at the suggestion of the state Comptroller’s Office. Councilwoman Natalie Luczkowiak also pushed back on that in an email to the OBSERVER, stating the office denied it made such a suggestion.

“They did not and would never recommend consolidating the boardwalk and garbage funds into the general fund. Nor did they tell that to anyone,” Luczkowiak said in her email.

She added: “They stated a correct picture of those individual lines of funding would have been sufficient until they became funded throughout the year; and eventually, we should have funds in there, in the future, at the beginning of the year.”

Luczkowiak voted for the fund consolidations anyway “because I prefer a basic and technically correct budget, and for now because of our financial strains, it’s OK. However, in the future, I am hoping for an elevated and sophisticated budget for our city. I am not just hoping to get past our situation but looking forward to a healthy cash flow and budget.”