The Dunkirk Common Council moved to reduce a proposed 108% tax rate in the 2025 city budget Tuesday — but Mayor Kate Wdowiasz apparently plans to veto it, in part over concerns about a hike in water and wastewater rates that hasn’t actually happened yet.

Councilperson-at-large Nick Weiser said the council had made “nearly $1.5 million in reductions across all funds and another $1.7 million in added revenues through forthcoming policy changes and strategic use of our tax stabilization reserve.”

He said the council “has created a differential of more than $2.4 million, with $1.9 million of that amount being used to offset the mayor’s proposed tax increase. While this is not the level of relief we had hoped to achieve, it is significant and it represents substantial progress toward a more sustainable budget.”

It’s not clear how much that would hack into the 108% property tax increase which Wdowiasz initially proposed. City officials didn’t say during Tuesday’s meeting what the new tax hike percentage would be.

However, Weiser told the OBSERVER Wednesday the cuts would lead to about a 68% tax increase. He said no number was stated at Tuesday’s meeting because the number could still change.

When he spoke Tuesday, Weiser also mentioned the office of the state Comptroller, which has had an eye on city finances ever since Albany OK’d a Fiscal Recovery Act to pump millions of dollars into Dunkirk’s coffers.

“While their involvement has provided clarity and improved accuracy in our financial planning, it has also resulted in significant required adjustments to the proposed budget, some of which have directly offset the savings council has worked hard to generate,” Weiser asserted. “For example, required inclusions in this budget such as the interest fee payment tied to our debt financing have added more than $1 million to our expenditure obligations.”

The council voted unanimously, 5-0, Tuesday to approve its proposed amendments to the 2025 budget. If that setup holds, the council will be able to override Wdowiasz’s veto — it needs four votes to do so.

Weiser said Wednesday the council passed amendments to the budget, but not the entire spending plan. He said the council is awaiting Wdowiasz’s veto message. She has until Dec. 13 to offer it, and Weiser said council will meet in special session after she does, to pass the final budget. The budget must be in place by Dec. 15.

Wdowiasz interjected as council was about to hold its budget vote Tuesday.

“I was just given these budget modifications,” she said. “There’s a few things I noticed. The $900,000 in the RAN interest was not added in. There are some speculative revenues from water that haven’t been addressed yet — I know we were discussing a change in water rates.”

Weiser said the RAN interest was simply moved to another budget line. “Relative to proposed increases in water and wastewater, those figures assume further action (that) council intends to take,” he said.

Weiser said Wednesday that the council is exploring moving to uniform water and wastewater rates. The declining block rates used now allows large, industrial customers to pay less per gallon above certain amounts of usage.

The change would have “no bearing” on residential rates, Weiser said. As it is now, “It gets to a point where it costs more to produce it then we’re selling it for.”

Wdowiasz told the council it was using questionable calculations.

“I would caution council on those numbers, because those numbers are relying strictly on an individual that has been named as unreliable through audits and the Office of the State Comptroller’s letter.” The mayor said she was giving the council a “heads up” on what she planned to veto.

Weiser said he got financial data from multiple sources. Wdowiasz then roasted City Treasurer Mark Woods, implying he is the “individual” criticized in the audits and letter.

“I would say if anything came from the Treasurer’s Office, I wouldn’t trust that data, as per the OSC’s letter to us and by the two years of audits we’ve recently received,” she said.

“These numbers did not come from the Treasurer’s Office,” Weiser replied.

Wdowiasz later concluded, “I think these are very speculative numbers and will impact our industry in a very harmful way.”

Prior to the vote, two members of the public demanded answers from city officials about the budget.

Bob Whittemore wanted to know if the council would follow the budget recommendations laid out by the state Comptroller’s Office in a letter. The letter was summarized in a Saturday OBSERVER article.

“Know that we’ve taken the comptroller’s recommendations under advisement,” Weiser said.

Ron Burnside also referenced what he called “the rebuke by the comptroller.”

He added, “I also know that we haven’t heard anything by the council about what they’re thinking about on the budget. The mayor proposed an 108% (property tax) increase. It’s unacceptable, I’m sure the council thinks it’s unacceptable. Now, if the mayor vetoes the council budget, do we have four votes from the council to override it? That’s the important issue.

“The mayor didn’t present a budget. The council is left with a budget to prepare. I don’t think they’re quite as equipped as the mayor was. Let’s hope we don’t fall further behind.

Weiser said to Burnside, “I’d encourage you to stick around.”