OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford City of Dunkirk Treasurer Mark Woods, left, listens as Mayor Wilfred Rosas and Councilman Martin Bamonto, right, sit beside him during a meeting of the council’s Finance Committee Thursday.

Dunkirk Treasurer Mark Woods wants the city to float a Revenue Anticipation Note to ensure cash flow for the rest of the year.

“The cash is coming in lower than the bills we need to meet,” Woods told the city council’s Finance and Administration Committee last week. “There’s more we have due than we have coming in.”

The major revenue sources the city would be borrowing against won’t come in until November or December, he added.

Woods seeks the council’s approval of the note at its next meeting, set for July 19. He said last week he thinks the city can get an interest rate of between 4.5 and 6% on a 12-month note. He did not offer a dollar figure on what the note would be.

Once the council approves the note, there is a 10-day waiting period before putting it out to bid, Woods added.

“We’re not in any situation where we have a surplus in revenue. It’s just not there. We’re holding our own,” he said. “If there’s anything out of the ordinary, we’re in trouble. That’s just the way it is.”

Councilmember Nancy Nichols asked if the note could get paid back at any time, without taking the full 12 months. Woods said it could be.

Mayor Wilfred Rosas said that over the years, he has not supported Revenue Anticipated Notes — but Woods convinced him this one is necessary in a meeting Wednesday.

“We don’t receive one-12th of our revenue per month. It’d be great if we did,” said city Fiscal Affairs Officer Marsha Beach.

“We only have a small number of revenue streams” for the budget’s general fund, said Councilmember-at-Large David Damico. Property and sales taxes, and Payments In Lieu of Taxes, are “pretty much it,” he said.

“The question down the road, at the end of the day — how do we increase these revenue streams moving forward?” Damico added.

Four of the council’s five members, also including Martin Bamonto and James Stoyle, attended last week’s meeting and did not express any opposition to Woods’ plan. The fifth member, Natalie Luczkowiak, works during the day out of town and was unable to make the late-morning meeting.