DUNKIRK, N.Y. — A Southern Tier city with major financial problems could end up being the focus of more officials in Albany. 2 On Your Side spoke with the Chautauqua County Executive about his concerns for taxpayers in the city of Dunkirk.
Chautauqua County Executive P. J. Wendel says the county legislature was expected at their Wednesday evening meeting in Mayville to vote on the idea of asking the State Attorney General's office to investigate the financial situation in Dunkirk to look at the budget actions of previous city government leaders.
This is because Wendel feels that the city may have a budget gap of $15 Million dollars or more. That is significant considering the Dunkirk Observer newspaper reports the city budget is $26 Million dollars.
Wendel says city officials have been seeking assistance from private entities to get new revenue notes and other forms of municipal loans to help cover their costs and they had problems covering a previous five million dollar loan from last year.
He says these convoluted financial issues appear to pre-date the administration of current Mayor Kate Wdowiaz. The Mayor issued this statement in response: "As with many communities, Dunkirk is still dealing with losing a significant source of tax revenue from deindustrialization and the loss of the NRG power plant. Our community must change to adapt to the new fiscal realities we are faced with. Upon taking over as Mayor in January of 2024, my administration encountered a financial deficit that was impossible for the City to rectify on its own. With that in mind, the City has instituted a series of financial measures to balance the budget for 2025 and ensure that this does not happen again. The City is working with the State of New York, Office of the State Comptroller in implementing the recently passed Dunkirk Fiscal Recovery Act to make sure that debt is managed and the City has a balanced budget. The City welcomes all due diligence from the State as well as the County of Chautauqua in ensuring that these issues do not affect the day-to-day life of Dunkirk residents and that they do not happen again."
Wendel says he and other county officials have been meeting with the city to get a handle on the situation. "There is no request anymore to the county for any funding. It's just the county's request for the Attorney General to investigate their budgetary process for the last ten years. There's a lot of questions that have to be asked. You know and the comptroller's office, the attorney general's office - you know both - how does the city get 16 Million dollars in debt?"
Again apparently the city of Dunkirk has been struggling financially ever since it lost its major taxpayer which was the NRG Energy power plant which was shut down in 2016 after plans fell through during the Cuomo Administration to convert it from coal to natural gas powered generation.
The ten years mentioned by the County Executive in that request for scrutiny by the AG's office would cover the administrations of former Mayors again between 2014 and 2024 before the current Mayor took office.
The city of Dunkirk did get some help from the state in the current budget with the passage of the previously mentioned $18.5 Million Dunkirk Fiscal Recovery Act which is run through the state comptroller's office.
There are no allegations of any wrongdoing here at this point. But there have been past City Hall scandals. Former Mayor Richard Frey, who left office in 2012, pleaded guilty to federal campaign fraud charges. And last year another former city official was charged by the state with the theft of $50 thousand.