OBSERVER File Photo
Terry Niebel, a Chautauqua County Legislator and North County Water District Board member, proposes that the city of Dunkirk sell its water treatment plant to the district.
The city of Dunkirk should consider selling its water treatment plant to the North County Water District, according to Chautauqua County Legislator and district board member Terry Niebel.
The move “could provide the city with an immediate infusion of cash, allow it time to look at structural deficits to reexamine city operations to eliminate duplication and improve efficiency, and gradually improve its bond rating,” Niebel said in a statement to the OBSERVER this week.
The city’s finances are under a state Comptroller’s Office watch after Dunkirk needed the state Legislature to pass a Fiscal Recovery Act in order to stay afloat. Mayor Kate Wdowiasz proposed a 2025 budget that keeps all city services but more than doubles the property tax rate.
“The mayor is correct in being leery about cutting services, especially police and fire services,” Niebel wrote. “Doing so jeopardizes public safety, and people are not going to live where they don’t feel safe.
However, he continued, such a sizable tax hike “poses problems as well. Not only will people avoid buying homes in the city, but current homeowners will be thinking of selling their homes, thus depressing the city housing market.”
Dunkirk Department of Public Works Director Randy Woodbury stands next to the pumps at the city’s water pumping station on Main Street Extension in this file photo.
Niebel acknowledged “initial growing pains with the North County Water District,” but asserted that “under its current capable leadership, the district is on sound financial footing, and continues to attract customers.”
If the city sold its water plant to the district, Dunkirk would see “significant” benefits, he suggested. Those include an immediate infusion of cash, leading to fewer spending cuts and a lower property tax hike, and annual savings in the city water department.
Niebel added the upcoming study by the village of Fredonia’s engineers on connecting to the North County Water District “may likely show that the village … will save millions of dollars by connecting to existing Town of Pomfret lines, which are part of the (NCWD).
“Should that be the case, then the village of Fredonia and the city of Dunkirk could join the North County District together and be equal members with the other water district board members in early 2025.”
Niebel is a real estate agent who owns Niebel Realty. He lives in Sheridan but his legislative district also includes the eastern part of the town of Dunkirk, along with the towns of Arkwright, Villenova, Cherry Creek, and a small section of the town of Hanover.
Niebel touted his Dunkirk ties in his statement to the OBSERVER. He said his father and wife both graduated from Dunkirk High School and they still have family living in the city.
“I’ve always considered the city of Dunkirk to be a special place… The city of Dunkirk was one of the nicest small cities in Western New York,” he wrote. “It can be again.”