City of Albany is Nearly $20 Million In Debt

The 2025 fiscal year has ended and left Albany and its new Mayor holding a large deficit. Obviously in the current economy that we're in no one wants to here that the city that they live in is sitting on millions of dollars in debt. Unfortunately that appears to be the case for Albany who announced that looking at a budget deficit of $19.6 million. That is over $4 million more than what they had previously said, at $15 million.

I know exactly what you're thinking - how on earth does this happen?

Mayor Applyrs said in a press conference Friday morning that a "financial mess left" for her from the previous administration. Spectrum News reports that most of this is due to poor financial planning.

Read More: Albany Mayor Vows To Clean Up the City, Literally

During that press conference this morning the mayor said they had found $5 million to go towards that giant number, taking it down to about that original $15 million they had said earlier this year. That is still a huge mountain to climb, and Albany still has a lot of work to do.

How will they solve this debt problem?

Right now it looks like cuts to certain departments within the city of Albany is what they're looking at. They also have halted hiring in many departments. The mayor was very upfront that said these cuts and freezes wouldn't impact any of the current work being down around the city.

I am confident that we will continue to find savings and I will continue to keep the public informed of our fiscal picture and process as we identify additional savings moving forward. - Mayor Applyrs

There was no mention of raising property taxes, but obviously that will probably happen to some city residents. It may not be large, but a slight increase is highly likely due to the debt problem.