The city of Dunkirk is in line for a mammoth property tax hike. Mayor Kate Wdowiasz’s 2025 budget proposal would more than double the rate.

Presented Wednesday at City Hall, the proposal calls for a tax rate of $37.75 per $1,000 of assessed property. The final budget proposal of previous Mayor Wilfred Rosas in 2024 had a rate of $18.12 per $1,000 assessed – a small hike after years of no increases.

Wdowiasz was supposed to present two budgets – one that didn’t cut services and one that did. In the end, as she explained before her official presentation again, she just went with one, which maintains all services.

The alternate budget “shows a glaring $5.2 million hole,” she said. It is not fair to the Common Council, or the city at large, to force such decisions that would result, she said. The council must approve the budget.

The formal, green-covered proposal was distributed around the room; the alternate one with a red cover was not, but stacks of them were there up front for the taking. Many in the room went to get copies of the “red” budget when Wdowiasz finished her speech.

The obvious difference between Wdowiasz’s green and red budgets: The red one has $5,482,625 less in property tax revenues.

In fact, glancing at the summaries of revenues and expenses, that’s the only difference. The green budget calls for $20,155,054 of general fund revenues, which largely depend on property taxes. The red budget has $14,672,429 in general fund revenues. That is also $5,482,625 less than the green budget.

Revenues for the water, wastewater, garbage and Boardwalk funds are the same in each budget.

Expenses are envisioned as $28,961,502 in both budgets. That gives the city a $196,252 surplus in the green budget. As Wdowiasz said, the red budget shows a $5.2 million deficit — $5,286,373 to be exact.