Dunkirk’s new council, which was sworn in Jan. 1, cannot fall into the trap that previous members did in not closely monitoring finances in the past. P-J photo

You could call it a destructive trifecta. For the third time in less than 15 years, money has gone missing in the city of Dunkirk.

At the moment, Mark Woods is the latest offender. According to a press release issued last week by both state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt, the longtime city treasurer took more than $120,000.

Woods was arraigned on charges of second-degree grand larceny, first-degree corrupting the government, and 12 counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree in Chautauqua County Supreme Court before Supreme Court Justice Grace M. Hanlon.

Unfortunately, the latest incident follows two others — one highly publicized, the other quietly swept under a rug. In May 2023, another joint investigation between the comptroller and Schmidt resulted in the indictment and arrest of the former city of Dunkirk Festivals Coordinator Hector Rosas for abusing his position to steal more than $50,000. That case is currently pending.

Even before that, more than $27,000 went missing from the city’s development department while Richard Frey was mayor in 2012. No charges were ever filed in that case. During an interview with The Post-Journal and OBSERVER in 2023, DiNapoli indicated there was no strong will from area and state officials at that time to press charges.

That is called turning a blind eye.

Of course, 14 years ago was very different. City of Dunkirk government was sitting pretty watching cash pour in, collecting at least $4 million per year from the power plant that currently sits idle and currently pays a pittance in taxes at the moment.

As city treasurer during a tenure of more than 25 years, Woods was consistently low key on how finances were maintained. He rarely spoke at council meetings and — through all the years — never sounded a warning as a deficit became apparent in 2024.

So archaic was his pencil and paper system that the elected council and mayor could not have known the dire circumstances it was facing. That is a large part of the $16 million deficit the city faced in 2024 that led to an 84% tax increase.

Let’s face it. The only time city of Dunkirk elected officials talked about money from 2010 to 2024 was when it came to a budget. Those are just projections, not real cash. They never broached a monthly report — or a fund balance sheet.

Ignorance was bliss. Nothing was wrong until something really hit the fan.

“This latest revelation only reinforces the fact that Dunkirk’s problems are not isolated or incidental.

They are deep-rooted and systemic,” both state Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor said last week. “The city’s finances are in disarray, and a lack of effective oversight and internal controls has allowed mismanagement and, allegedly, criminal conduct to fester for far too long.”

Elected city leaders were lethargic when it came to a bottom line even though they had no reason to be. They also consistently passed annual budgets that increased spending while not raising taxes.

It never made sense. A $4 million cushion in revenues from the power plant evaporated once the facility was shuttered in 2016. Who was making up that chunk of cash?

Woods shoulders a lot of blame at the moment. For now, officials estimate he took $120,000. That’s nowhere near the $16 million hole the city was in.

But he was able to get away with it for the same reason all elected leaders were dumbfounded by the 2024 deficit. Few elected officials are financial watchdogs.

It is easier to roll with the punches hoping for a delay in doomsday.

Woods has to answer to the courts for his misdeeds. Dozens of other elected officials who stood by and offered no resistance when it came to watching taxpayer dollars for more than a decade, are just as guilty, especially those who foolishly handed out $300,000 of bonuses for themselves and employees in 2021.

They also were irresponsible, but they don’t face the prospect of jail time.

John D’Agostino is editor of The Post-Journal, OBSERVER and Times Observer in Warren, Pa. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call 716-487-1111, ext. 253.