NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. —First responders and community members gathered in Niagara Falls to remember the lives lost nearly two decades ago on September 11 2001.

The city's mayor, Paul Dyster, had a different idea.

He used the memorial service as a platform to air his grievances about a dispute between the Seneca Nation and New York State over casino gaming revenue.

"Probably the most challenging scenario our fire department would face would be a fire on the upper floors of the Seneca casino,” Dyster said. “If that were to happen today, tomorrow, I know that you would be there to try to save lives under those circumstances but again I cannot escape the irony that you would be doing so with one hand tied behind your back because of the failure of the Seneca Nation to deliver those revenues and the very first dollars that we get from the casino on any given year, the first thing that we devote funding to is public safety because that's our priority."

Following these comments, Todd Gates, president of the Seneca Nation, released a statement that says in part:

"The mayor has previously refused to meet with nation leaders, instead saying he would rather wait to see the resolution of the compact arbitration that the state initiated, and for which the state recently missed a deadline, which may only serve to prolong the process."

Gates continued, “the mayor doesn’t like to address the fact that his administration has wastefully spent millions of dollars that poured into the city during the nation’s 14-year payment period to the state."

John Kane, a Mohawk who lives on Seneca Nation territory and host of the Let’s Talk Native, said Dyster’s comments are inaccurate as well as inappropriate. 

“How he manages city resources is really in his control. They have received over a quarter of a billion dollars from Seneca Nation,” Kane said. “It wasn’t supposed to specifically go to city services, it was to go for enhancing economic development. For him to make this comment now, his comments are wrong.”