Give the city of Dunkirk credit for its transparency. Its 2022 audit, that gives insight into the worsening financial plight of the city, is available on its website at this address: https://cms9files.revize.com/dunkirkny/2022%20Audit.pdf

What readers will find is a history that portrays a deteriorating bottom line that has led to the 84% property tax increase this year for city property owners. For instance, a fund balance that stood at $5.9 million in the plus in 2018 was underwater $101,000 by the end of 2020 — when COVID funding was coming in almost full throttle to governments.

Today, that deficit appears to be $16 million for the municipality.

As the audit notes following a breakdown of these numbers: “The city does not have the ability to effectively monitor its cash position or results of operations, making short and long-term financial planning and budgeting incredibly difficult. Actual revenues have failed to meet budgeted amounts while actual expenditures exceeded budgeted amounts.”

That statement goes right back to leadership and fiduciary responsibility. That falls on previous Mayor Wilfred Rosas, those who served during that time on Common Council and an elected treasurer in Mark Woods who has more than two decades in a position.

Household budgets for working families, according to the U.S. Census, are around $82,000. We elect individuals with little financial knowledge — in Dunkirk and other communities — to oversee budgets that are in the millions.

That’s a heavy lift for some who cannot make ends meet at home — and part of the problem. If a strong background in finances is truly watching the bottom line, there will be an alert followed by a strong warning when figures start to tank.

Dunkirk had none of this. It speaks to a lack of financial detail that relied on cash coming in, while not knowing exactly how much was going out.