City’s debt load requires commitment to cost cuts
Lockport Journal Editorial
Thursday, October 07, 2026

The city better be especially careful when it comes to how much it’s spending next year.

Judging by its likely debt load, it’s already spending enough.

The city is poised to double its current debt with a laundry list of projects — some of which are already done and, of course, need to be paid for.

There are legitimate, necessary projects: Paving, sewer repairs that were under the threat of state fines, water treatment plant work and others, including a $1.3 million price tag associated with changing the city police and firefighter retirement plan.

Not added to the wish list — yet — is the cash to begin a parks improvement plan. An early draft of that proposal suggested a million dollars’ worth of projects.

While we certainly appreciate the desire to keep the city green, that may be a little too much green coming out of residents’ pocketbooks.

We agree with the thought of creating a multi-year capital improvement plan to take care of the problems plaguing city parks, but we hope people are distinguishing between need and simple want.

Parks are definitely a quality-of-life issue in the city, but so are high taxes. It’s been said time and time again by residents that the city needs to keep a lid on expenses, and this is another one of those times.

Though the city doesn’t seem to have much of a choice on incurring a lot more debt, given some of the mandated expenses, the cost of doing so makes it imperative that they pare back as much as possible in next year’s budget.

That includes the ongoing negotiations with the city’s unions. We hope the city isn’t giving away the store to its employees, who already enjoy fair wages and good benefits — especially when compared to workers in the private sector.

Our city is by no means well-off. Everybody who lives here needs to understand that, including the employees.

While it would be nice to fill all the vacant jobs, create beautiful parks and satisfy everybody’s wish lists, it can’t be done in a fiscally responsible way.
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