Dunkirk is ready to float bonds in an attempt to cover its deficit.

The city Common Council authorized a pair of resolutions to enable the bonds during a rare Sunday session. The council has already had its final regular meeting of the year, but Mayor Kate Wdowiasz insisted that the resolutions needed to get passed by Dec. 31 or Dunkirk would lose access to the bonding. The supposedly low-interest bonds are a key part of the state’s Fiscal Recovery Act to help the deficit-challenged city.

The first resolution created a new city Chief Fiscal Officer to handle the bond sales. Councilman-at-large Nick Weiser announced an amendment that apparently removed the appointment of current Fiscal Affairs Officer Ellen Luczkowiak to the new position.

“Council is considering an amended version of the resolution prepared by bond counsel, which I believe removes individual appointments and focuses solely on authorization language,” Weiser said. “This amended version does not change the subject matter of the resolution as noticed.”

City Attorney Elliot Raimondo said the measure specifically allows the city to refinance its debt and lays out a position, not a specific person, to do it.

The second resolution “authorizes the issuance of up to $17 million in deficit bonds” to enact that debt refinancing, Weiser said. Like the first resolution, the second passed by a 4-0 vote, with outgoing Councilwoman Abigail Zatorski absent.

“It’s the culmination of a process that’s been underway for well over a year at this point,” Weiser said. “The city has now received the state Comptroller’s certification of our deficit, which was the final prerequisite under the (Fiscal Recovery) Act. The passage of this resolution allows the city to issue deficit bonds to repay the state’s $13.7 million loan and satisfy other outstanding obligations, including those to the New York state retirement system.”

Weiser said the resolutions don’t “restructure city government, appoint any new officers or change staffing.

It simply authorizes the bond issuance and delegates execution authority as permitted under state law. Without this action, the city cannot move forward with the financing authorized by the state Legislature.”

The resolutions only came before council last week, despite their time-sensitive nature. Councilwoman Nancy Nichols commented, “I’m just a little bit amazed that it was such a late notification… of these resolutions. We’re going in by the skin of the teeth at the last possible moment.”

Wdowiasz later said, “I would really like to thank this council for understanding the urgency, and the need and necessity, to get these resolutions passed… As we all know, it’s been a very difficult two years, and this is kind of our light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully we will get somebody who wants to purchase our debt at a very reasonable interest rate, which will ultimately save our residents money.”

The mayor concluded: “I appreciate your hard work, your effort, your energy — and for the council that will be leaving, we will miss you.”