Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs said Friday that the city government finished last year with a budget deficit of more than $19 million, up from the $15 million her administration initially estimated in March.
Will Waldron/Times Union
ALBANY — Mayor Dorcey Applyrs revised the city’s estimated 2025 budget deficit Friday, saying the gap is $19.6 million, not the $15 million her administration initially calculated when they reviewed last year’s spending plan.
Applyrs disclosed the new number at a news conference Friday, explaining the inflated amount was mostly attributable to invoices for outstanding bills from 2025. The new mayor also said flawed 2025 and 2026 budgets were built by her predecessor, Mayor Kathy Sheehan, and passed by the Common Council.
Article continues below this ad
“The responsibility ultimately will rest on the shoulders of the mayor, but across the administration, we had found that there were definitely areas where someone was asleep behind the wheel,” Applyrs said.
Her announcement came days after Common Council members said the state comptroller’s office should be brought in to help the city navigate its budget problems.
Applyrs told reporters on Friday that she did not believe that was necessary. “I am not seeking the comptroller’s services and support in analyzing and reviewing Albany’s 2026 or 2025 budget,” the mayor said. “My team has a firm handle on budget review.”
Make the Times Union a Preferred Source on Google to see more of our journalism when you search.
Add Preferred Source
The power to seek the comptroller’s help does not rest entirely with the mayor. Common Council members this week noted that they, or even members of the public, could request a municipal review. Majority Leader Alfredo Balarin said he favored a June deadline to decide on calling in Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli if Applyrs was not open to making the request herself or to working on a joint appeal with the council.
Article continues below this ad
The revised deficit figure was, in part, tabulated by invoices for last year’s bills that were entered after March 1. That amount totals $3.6 million.
City Treasurer Darius Shahinfar said “unrealized but expected grant revenue” also contributed to the revised figure. Several financial reports from his office are late, including reports on the city’s finances from the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. The reason for those delays stems from the city’s inability to close the 2025 books because of the enormous deficit.
The treasurer’s office also missed a Thursday deadline to submit its yearly financial report to the state comptroller. Part of the reason that the report is late is because of the 2025 invoices the city received over the last 10 days, which comprise much of the new deficit figure. That report has been late in the past, Shahinfar said.
“The fact that you’re able to actually be closed and almost ready to file (the report) by April 30 was a bit of a success compared to previous years,” he said.
Article continues below this ad
Applyrs said the city’s current woes were not the fault of her administration. “Both (2025 and 2026) budgets were developed by the previous administration and passed by the Common Council prior to my tenure as mayor,” Applyrs said. “In simple terms, a financial mess was left. My administration has been and will remain laser-focused on fixing this mess.”
She said there was a lack of budget oversight during Sheehan’s term in office.
“Since leaving office, I have learned that the budget deficit far exceeded what I had been told while in office,” Sheehan said in a statement Friday. “I am outraged this deficit was created while I was in office. Our residents deserve better and we all deserve answers.”
Sheehan called for an audit from “an outside third-party” such as the Office of the State Comptroller to “review the city’s internal fiscal controls.”
Article continues below this ad
“Clearly,” Sheehan said, “the internal fiscal controls laid out as per the city charter — controls that include shared oversight and responsibility among the offices of audit and control, treasurer and mayor — did not work properly to prevent this from happening.”
The chief city auditor and treasurer are elected positions. Applyrs served as chief city auditor before being sworn in as mayor in January. Shahinfar was first elected treasurer in 2013.
The Common Council has expressed growing concern about where the city will find the money to close the 2025 books. One option involves transferring the entirety of the city’s general fund, roughly $12 million, and rolling over the remaining balance. Such a move would be disastrous for the city’s bond rating. When asked about this, Applyrs’ press secretary stepped in and said the mayor would only answer questions about 2026.
Shahinfar later said the city was relying on funding from the state to close the gap. “We’re working with the state and then making adjustments within the budget,” he said. “And then we’ll take a look at the options after that.”
Article continues below this ad
State lawmakers are contemplating an aid package of around $35 million for the city in the state budget, which is now a month late.
Friday’s disclosure of a bigger deficit is the latest in a series of sobering updates about the state of the city’s finances and the challenges Applyrs and her staff face just months after taking office.
There was also some good news. Applyrs said the city had identified roughly $5.3 million in savings for 2026, which would have “low-to-no impact on city services.” She said the city has moved some training for city workers in-house and canceled unnecessary, duplicate contracts for some city departments.
She also said the city was implementing changes to how financial data would be compiled and would rely on actual income from previous years rather than projections, which were rarely met in some cases.
Article continues below this ad
The city arrived at the figure by accounting for $1.2 million worth of unfilled city positions, which will likely remain in place during the hiring freeze implemented last month in one of the administration’s first moves to address the crisis.
Applyrs said the city’s cost reduction push, which is being led by Deputy Mayor Christopher Ellis and Administrative Services Commissioner Miriam Dixon, was moving into a second phase, which would impact next year’s budget. At the outset of the crisis, the mayor asked every city department to produce budget reduction plans that cut costs at 7%, 10% and 15%.
“We’re starting to look at medium to high impact services,” Applyrs said. “What the budget reduction plans will do, in terms of looking ahead, it gives us a sense of areas in which we can cut moving forward. Instead of carrying over budget lines, positions and services we don’t need, this has given us a road map to inform how we start the budget process for 2027.”
Article continues below this ad