Albany County Government: Albany County Legislature Adopts 2022 Budget

Press release from the Albany County Government:

12/06/2021 5:41 pm

The Albany County Legislature adopted the County’s spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year. With a focus on enhancing youth programming, encouraging economic development and modernizing the County workforce, the 2022 budget creates a framework to ensure a safe and thriving county, while providing relief to taxpayers.

“Our priorities of continuing to keep our county safe during the pandemic, making key investments in our future through youth and community development programming and unleashing Albany County’s job creation and economic development potential are all here in this spending plan,” said Chairman Andrew Joyce. “We thank Audit and Finance Chairwoman Wanda Willingham and our Audit and Finance Committee members for their diligent work, as well as County Executive Dan McCoy and his team for presenting a sound and feasible proposal to build on.”

County Executive Daniel P. McCoy presented his proposal to the Legislature on October 12, totaling $753 million. Over the past few weeks, the Legislature has worked diligently with different agencies and departments making various alterations to the final spending plan to ensure that all priorities are accounted for. The tax levy totals $99,752,250, and with a tax rate of $3.45 per $1,000 of equalized value, property owners will see a slight decrease in 2022.

With youth programming an ongoing priority, one of the various adjustments and programmatic additions made by the Legislature was an additional $15,000 for the Department of Recreation to create additional opportunities throughout the County. In that vein, the Legislature has ensured that the Community Development, Public Health and Safety Fund will continue providing funding for after-school programming that is key to engaging youth, workforce development programs, and other public health and safety initiatives.

As Albany County continues to feel the impacts of the pandemic, economic development also continues to be a priority. As such, $250,000 has been allocated to the County’s Economic Development budget for continued support of the Advance Albany County Alliance Local Development Corporation and ongoing economic recovery efforts. This investment will go a long way in keeping Albany open for business. Another $75,000 was allocated for the purpose of helping the Chairman’s Legislative Task Forces address a variety of topics including resources for small businesses, tackling blight, minority health equity, legislative modernization and more.

“I am proud of the 2022 financial plan which ensures that we continue to improve our support programs across all areas of the County so our residents are getting the resources and services where they need it the most,” stated Audit and Finance Chairwoman Wanda Willingham. “I want to thank my colleagues in the Legislature for their support on a comprehensive budget which creates more youth programming to keep our children safe, addresses health and wellness in our minority communities amid the pandemic and promotes economic development in all our communities. Our residents must be a priority and I think this budget enforces that.”

The Legislative budget does not make any cuts to County services and program offerings. Expected revenues from sales tax collections are forecasted to offset spending increases in the final budget.

“In our second fiscal year impacted by Covid-19, we have provided a budget that both addresses those challenges and further meets the needs of the people of Albany County. The budget maintains the high levels of services the people have come to expect and rely on from County government, while also rewarding our county workforce for their hard work and years of dedicated services,” said Majority Leader Dennis Feeney. “As Majority Leader, I commend my fellow Legislators, our Chairman Andrew Joyce and County Executive McCoy for their hard work throughout this process, and believe this budget reflects the strong Democratic Leadership the people of Albany County have come to trust.”

This press release was produced by the Albany County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.