County Lawmakers to Begin Review of 2017 Budget Next Week
9/29/2016 5:23:39 PM
By Dave Rowley, News Director
Chautauqua County lawmakers will begin their review of County Executive Vince Horrigan's 2017 budget next week. Horrigan says achieving even a small tax decrease in the budget was not easy, given some recent drains on county finances. One is the mothballing of the NRG Plant in Dunkirk, which has reduced amount of revenues under the Payment in Lieu of Tax by 85% next year. Horrigan says state transitional aid will help cover 80% of those costs...
Vince Horrigan: losses from NRG
However, Horrigan does admit more of a problem in the out years, as the transitional aid is phased out. He says the biggest concern is for the City of Dunkirk and the Dunkirk School District. Horrigan says the losses to them, even with transitional aid, is significant. He adds that both the cities of Dunkirk and Jamestown have major issues facing them this year. Jamestown is nearly at its constitutional taxing limit, and Dunkirk is facing a major revenue gap because of the NRG situation.