Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs is asking the state's highest fiscal authority to give the city's budget a second look.
Applyrs is asking New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli to review the city's midyear budget and provide recommendations by early September. The request comes as the city is staring down a 22 million dollar budget gap for 2026, despite an eight-figure infusion of state money.
Meghan Keegan, a member of the Albany Common Council and the chair of the council's Finance Committee, hopes the comptroller's outside perspective will help the city develop solutions.
"They're not responsible for providing everyday services to our citizens," Keegan said. "They're not responsible for our workforce, so, they are very likely going to give us a reality check that a lot of us feel very uncomfortable having to make when it comes to really hard decisions."
The city's budget gap is largely driven by ballooning healthcare, salary and benefit costs.
