Dunkirk Common Council may have approved a $24 million budget on Tuesday night, but in doing so they also broke a policy it approved in July 2019. Sponsored then by First Ward Councilman Don Williams Jr., the action did not allow for walk-in resolutions.

Council, apparently, does not have to follow its own rules. With no mention in the prefiled agenda regarding the budget, all council members went ahead and voted 5-0 on a spending plan that included numerous changes.

Since the approval, Mayor Wilfred Rosas announced plans for a veto.

But here’s the bigger problem. Council is continuing to be destructive and arrogant. Its latest budget discussion did not allow for the public to have its voice heard or know of the vote.

“When we get a walk-in, especially when they deal with money, I believe that it should be on the prefiled agenda that goes to the public; so that anyone that reads the agenda, they then know what is happening,” Williams said during the 2019 meeting when that policy regarding walk-in resolutions was approved.

So what did he and the rest of council do on Tuesday? They blatantly ignored their own edict and entertained a walk-in resolution on budget changes and approvals.

This council is a wizard in fooling residents that they are working in their best interests. If that were the case, then there would be much less in-fighting between the legislative body and the administration and more discussion on what can be done to better the city moving forward.

By the way, Williams also made this remark in regard to the increased tipping fee that residents will be paying starting next year in the approved budget. “We have to watch out for our elderly people, our single home people and they pay enough already. The tipping fee is a tax, just like a tax increase is a tax, “ he said during a November budget discussion. “So if we’re going to raise it on them and we’re going to put a hard burden on that I’m going to end up voting ‘no’ on the budget.”

For the record, he voted “yes.” So much for keeping his word.