There is one major option the city of Dunkirk assessor needs to consider before making a push for a reassessment of properties in the municipality. It involves an almost abandoned parcel that once paid the highest taxes in Chautauqua County.

For the record, a Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreement with the county Industrial Development Agency expired in 2023 that involves that prime plot near the waterfront and is owned by NRG Energy Inc. that includes a mothballed power plant.

Payment last year to the city by NRG, according to those documents, was only $134,000. That’s a drop in the bucket in comparison to the years that electricity was being produced at the station. At one time, it was paying about $4 million annually to the city alone.

Current Assessor Erica Munson last week suggested a reassessment, which could cost $1.3 million that Dunkirk does not have. At this moment, that idea is a copout. It does nothing to reduce the pain that is likely going to hit city taxpayers facing a 108% increase. It will only change property values.

There’s a much bigger fish to fry near the lake in Dunkirk right now that is absolutely tied to the current crisis. That’s the power-plant property.

NRG is getting away with paying pennies on prime land at the moment. Where’s the city assessor’s leadership to get that back on the tax rolls?

With the small price NRG is paying, there is certainly no incentive for the company to sell that land. Putting it back on the tax rolls — as soon as possible — makes the most sense. That way, the city receives much more than the $134,000 per year and maybe it adds some urgency for NRG in how it wants to proceed.

That action, not reassessment, benefits city constituents the most. Proposing reassessment, at this moment, is just a distraction.