Should Niagara Falls Taxpayers’ Money Pay for DEC Fine?

The City of Niagara Falls has been dumping into an unauthorized location for years – city-owned land on New Road.

Now, the DEC is giving the City of Niagara Falls a $2,500 fine. But, now should taxpayer funds be used to pay for their mistake?

According to WGRZ: City officials say an investigation led by the Department of Environmental Conservation began earlier this year, when a report surfaced that a dead dog was dumped here, which led to the discovery of all the illegal dumping. Though, the city administrator points the blame and says this illegal dumping was done by residents.

It's an unfortunate situation that my office is dealing with DPW, now we know what can and cannot be stored and where. In the process of analyzing the stuff that was back there, the DEC determined at that time that the sweeper dirt, which is the debris from our street sweeper and some tree limbs, should not be stored there" said Nicholas Melson, the city administrator.