Dunkirk officials are thinking about raising fees for city services.
They discussed hikes for out-of-town contractors using the city dump, and for recreation programs, at a meeting of the city Common Council’s Finance Committee last week.
Department of Public Works Director Randy Woodbury said that the city dump is getting taken advantage of by out-of-town users. “We think the contractor’s fee is a little low,” he said.
Ryan Hall, the Youth and Recreation Department head, followed with his own proposed increases. He was unsure if he could put them in place for 2023 as some organizations are already locked into contracts.
The city’s paralegal, Kate Wdowiasz, soon told him he cannot change fees for groups that have already signed contracts — but could potentially do so for future agreements, including 2023.
“We should have had this discussion seven months ago,” Councilwoman Nancy Nichols said.Hall envisioned raising rates for field usage and for accessing the city’s recreational center. He said softball team rates should be left alone, as the city’s leagues are already shedding teams anyway.
Noting they use chalk and lights provided by the city, Hall called the fields “dirt cheap.” He added, “It should be a no-brainer to increase it.”
Councilman Marty Bamonto suggested raising recreation fees for people who are not residents of Dunkirk but leaving them alone for those who do live in the city.
“It’s a bad call — almost as if you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” Nichols said of raising recreation program fees.
There was also a brief discussion at the Finance Committee meeting about raising rates for Camp Gross, a city summer camp program for children.
In the end, no decisions were made about any of the proposals to raise charges.
