Albany's budget is in decent shape, and the people managing it have done careful work. Our two-year budget is balanced.
But balanced doesn't mean comfortable. Some of that balance comes from positions that have remained vacant and from moving money between funds. Albany runs police, fire, parks, streets, recreation and everything else with a relatively small staff. There isn't a lot of extra capacity, and there isn't much room to add new programs without deciding what takes priority.
I've run a small business for nearly twenty years. I've had to make payroll, manage through lean years and decide which things we could afford to do now and which would have to wait. That doesn't make the city's choices easy, but it does shape how I approach them.
The biggest challenge ahead is Golden Gate Fields. If the property becomes tax exempt, the city stands to lose roughly $1.3 million a year at the same time our costs continue to rise. We know this is coming, which means we should be planning for it now.
My priorities are pretty straightforward. Protect core services first, including public safety, streets and sidewalks, parks and the Senior Center. Develop a year-by-year plan for the Golden Gate Fields revenue loss. Use reserves for the purposes they were established for, not to cover an ongoing structural gap. And before asking residents for additional revenue, show clearly what we've tried, what the alternatives are and what any new money would pay for. I'll always show you the math.
I'm not running with a predetermined list of programs to cut or new things to fund. I want to understand the numbers, listen to the people affected and make the choices openly. That's how I've run my business, and it's how I'd approach the city budget.