In March, state Sen. George Borrello proposed legislation for a control board in the city of Dunkirk in an attempt to change the path of the municipality’s beleaguered finances for the future. Last December, Common Council members — including Republicans Abigail Zatorski, James Stoyle and Nancy Nichols — voted to approve an 84% property tax increase.

After that decision in late 2024, there was silence from the trio at public Common Council meetings when it came to the deficit for five months. No talk or discussion from them on how to cut spending, what to do about the fiscal crisis or the loan that comes due next month that bailed out the city when it was swimming in $16 million of debt in 2024.

Lo and behold, once the control board proposal from Borrello did not move forward in the state this month, the three representatives finally found the courage to speak out — at least in documents to New York state, but not their constituents. All three in the letter to Albany officials apparently said they were not in favor of the $13.7 million loan that comes with a 7.5% interest rate to be paid back to New York state.

Great.

So what was their plan if there was no loan? Did they want the control board proposed by Borrello? If they did, they were as quiet as a library on that topic for 70 days from March to June.

To be fair, Zatorski was elected to the council just about when the financial troubles were coming to light. It was Stoyle and Nichols who contributed to the crisis that began in 2020. They were there with previous Mayor Wilfred Rosas, and former council members Paul VanDenVouver, Don Williams, Martin Bamonto, Dave Damico and current member Natalie Luczkowiak approving boatloads of spending without having any concept of how bad the bottom line looked.

Dunkirk was fat — now at least two people responsible for it want credit for trying to stop a bad loan deal. It is too late for that.

Four years of irresponsible spending with taxpayer dollars — that included careless bonuses, extravagant purchases and faulty budgets — does not get forgiven with a letter to New York state.

Actions speak louder than words.