Lindsay Powers || Staff Writer || Issue 17
Albany City Mayor Dr. Dorcey Applyrs announced the city will have a $22 million deficit by 2026, while facing backlash over her administration’s spending decisions. According to Mayor Applyrs, the city was already dealing with a structural deficit of $15 million.
In a memo to city workers on March 19, Mayor Applyrs announced that she had instituted a freeze on non-essential positions, reduced non-emergency overtime, and limited travel and equipment purchases.
In a statement released to CBS 6, Mayor Applyrs said, “This week I implemented a series of citywide financial measures across every department,” Mayor Applyrs said. “This included, number one, a hiring freeze.”
WAMC
Some city officials still have unanswered questions and concerns about Mayor Applyrs’s administration’s financial choices, such as $1,800 spent on life-sized vinyl record-themed handouts for her State of the City address and a recent trip to Baltimore, Maryland. The mayor’s office has also created new positions and increased salaries for city workers, including a 13% increase in Mayor Applyrs’s salary, from $143,000 to $160,000.
During a council hearing on February 19th, Councilmember Deirdre Brodie said, “We need to know that we can afford these salary raises this year, and how we are affording them in the future”. Councilmember Brodie’s other concern is “This bill was put forth within days of starting the fiscal year gives me very little confidence that these unsustainable increases will slow.”
Despite the backlash over Mayor Applyrs expenditures, she continues to defend her administration’s decisions, saying, “We have been learning about our city’s fiscal picture in real time,” adding. “And even with that, there is essential work that still must happen. I stand behind every decision that my team has made to this point.” Mayor Applyrs cited economic pressures, such as inflation, rising interest rates, and declining federal support, as the culprits behind the city’s growing deficit.
City officials said they will announce additional steps to address the fiscal challenges the City of Albany will face in the coming months.
The Hudsonian 