The City of Albany is under "significant fiscal stress," New York State oversight agency determined.
In a report released Thursday, the State Comptroller's Office gave the City of Albany a fiscal score of 85 points, making Albany the second most fiscally stressed municipality in the state, only behind a village in Rockland County.
The report comes as Albany faces an approximately $22 million budget gap this year, even after state lawmakers agreed to give the capital city $20 million in state aid. Albany is facing a projected budget gap of $33 million next year.
Mark Johnson, a spokesperson for New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, says the amount of poverty and tax-exempt property in Albany make the city more susceptible to the financial headwinds hitting municipalities across the state.
“It's not just Albany," Johnson said in an interview. "Local governments across the state are facing increased financial pressures due to a combination of the end of federal pandemic aid, higher inflation, rising operating costs and moderating sales tax growth.
WAMC has reached out to Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs through a spokesperson.
The designation marks the first time Albany was designated as being under significant fiscal stress since 2016. The city was determined to be under "moderate fiscal stress" during the previous two budget cycles, and had been designated as "susceptible to fiscal stress" in the three years before that.
The Comptroller's Office is currently reviewing the city's budget on Applyrs' request and preparing recommendations. Johnson says he expects that report to be ready "in the next few weeks."
"We're going to stand ready to assist the city in righting its financial ship," Johnson said.
Applyrs, who was sworn in at the start of the year, says her office has done a department-by-department review of spending and put together controls on hiring and non-essential spending. The chair of the city council's Finance Committee previously told WAMC that the council was considering overriding the tax cap.
The Comptroller's Office noted in a statement that municipalities are facing more fiscal pressures, which range from higher inflation and the end of federal pandemic aid to rising costs and slower sales tax revenue growth.
The mayor's office is expected to release its 2027 budget proposal on Oct. 1.
Six municipalities in the Capital Region, Hudson Valley, Catskills and Mohawk Valley were determined to be under "moderate fiscal stress," including:
- The City of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County
- The Town of North Greenbush, Rensselaer County
- The Village of Liberty, Sullivan County
- The Village of Tivoli, Dutchess County
- The Town of Minden, Montgomery County
- The Village of Coxsackie, Greene County
The City of Schenectady was determined to be "susceptible to fiscal stress," the comptroller's lowest risk designation.
"'Susceptible to fiscal stress' is similar to an early warning, saying, 'Look, there are some areas where the city may need to to bolster reserves or look at how it's spending in certain areas,'" Johnson said. "It's not an alarm, but it's just more of a heads up that the city may be headed toward fiscal stress if certain things don't change."
Johnson added that municipalities in that position "often" change course and avoid serious fiscal issues.
