OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford The Dunkirk Finance Committee met. From left are committee chair and Councilman-at-large Nick Weiser, Councilwoman Natalie Luczkowiak, Assessor Erica Munson, Deputy DPW Director Michael Przybycien, and former Councilwoman Nancy Nichols. Nichols initially expressed misgivings about sitting at the meeting table, because she is no longer on council – but Weiser then invited all meeting attendees to use open seats at the table.

Less than 24 hours after Dunkirk’s Memorial Day events, City Hall’s financial parade continued.

The Common Council’s Finance Committee met in the Stearns Building this week as workers began to take down the City Hall parade stage just steps away. The meeting provided mixed news — and the usual confusion — about the state of city finances.

“There’s not a lot of change at the moment,” said Fiscal Affairs Officer Ellen Luczkowiak, phoning in because she had to do a last-minute family errand.

Luczkowiak asked for support on upcoming budget modifications. That was about it for her report — but meeting attendees then peppered her with questions.

Committee chair and Councilman-at-large Nick Weiser inquired about cash flow. “It’s going, at this point, smoothly,” Luczkowiak said. The city is running “right in line with what we had projected in 2026. God forbid (there are) any unseen expenses we have to come up with.”

She said the biggest unforeseen expense this year so far has been the City Hall elevator. It was discovered after a renovation of the elevator that the device needs a new jack.

Former Councilwoman Nancy Nichols grilled Luczkowiak a little about how the city will pay for its new comptroller position. Nichols has continued to be a presence at City Hall since losing a re-election race in November, still attending most council meetings.

Luczkowiak said a grant paying for the position for two years is about $246,000. Weiser later found the exact number in the city budget: $269,408.

That raised questions as to why a position that had not yet been approved by council was funded in the budget. “We knew we were going to need the position, and that was part of the reorganization discussion,” Weiser said.

Councilwoman Natalie Luczkowiak wanted to know when council members will be able to access the new city-wide financial information system. Council approved GovSense last year to provide the software service.

Fiscal Affairs Officer Luczkowiak replied the services still have not been implemented yet.

“We put it off a little bit, and part of the reason we put it off was the reorganization of the Clerk/Treasurer’s Office,” she said. The city combined the formerly separate offices into one earlier this year.

“We could potentially go live in August if we get everybody on board and trained,” Ellen Luczkowiak added. She noted, “I’m just one person, trying to do the implementation.”

A little later in the meeting, Nichols wondered if “anyone is factoring (the comptroller position” into the finances of the city.”

“I can’t speak to that,” Ellen Luczkowiak replied. “He or she hasn’t been hired yet.”

The questioning didn’t end there. It wouldn’t feel much like a Dunkirk Finance Committee meeting these days without a series of queries from Chris Pinkoski, the former state Comptroller’s Office employee who was briefly city fiscal affairs officer.

Pinkoski repeatedly questioned if the city budgeted a comptroller on its revenue side, but not its expenditure side. She bluntly asked Ellen Luczkowiak where it was listed in its expenditure lines.

“I can’t answer that now,” she replied. The fiscal affairs officer, who seemed to be calling in from the road, appeared hampered throughout the meeting by her temporary inability to access city financial documents.

Nichols noted that the formerly independent Treasurer’s Office used to provide monthly reports to the Finance Committee and asked if that would resume with the new Clerk/Treasurer’s Office.

“Once they get organized, they’ll start up again. I know it’s something we’ve talked about,” Ellen Luczkowiak replied.

Pinkoski pressed for information on the city’s overall operational deficit. Ellen Luczkowiak promised to email her.

The fiscal affairs officer did note there has been “not a lot of change in revenue” this year as compared to previous years.

She also made this statement: “We should have been out of money by the end of March. … We really did squeak by until we got taxes in.”