BUDGET STATEMENT OF WARD 11
ALBANY COMMON COUNCIL
INCUMBENT KRASHER A TRULY
INDEPENDENT COUNCILMAN

Earlier today, Mayor Sheehan released her proposed 2018 budget for the City of Albany. While this budget proposal is likely to change in the next few weeks, I am concerned about the following items that the Mayor included in this proposal:

1) Mayor Sheehan’s budget proposal calls for tax increases on homeowners and businesses. Despite repeated campaign pledges that the Sheehan Administration would continue “hold the line on taxes,” a mere few weeks after the primary election Mayor Sheehan is asking Albany taxpayers to fork over more money to the city. Everyone knows that Albany’s property taxes are among the highest in the region, and it's not right (if not outright deceitful) that someone who campaigned on not increasing taxes would do just that. 

2) The budget proposal includes raises for the city's white-collar non-union workers despite the fact that five of our unions - including Albany’s Blue Collar Workers - remain without a contract. For someone who campaigned as being “pro-union,” Mayor Sheehan's willingness to dole out wages to select employees while leaving a significant our city’s union employees hanging out to dry is shameful and outright hypocritical.

3) I support capping our high level management salaries at below six figures, because there is absolutely no reason why Albany's working families should be asked to pay for the raises of an already very high paid management. I'm disappointed to see that Mayor Sheehan has not included such a cap in a budget proposal that is asking our residents and businesses to pay more in taxes.

4) Once again, Mayor Sheehan in putting out a budget that is fundamentally unbalanced - mostly being predicated on $12.5 million in aid that New York State has yet to make a commitment to for the next fiscal year. The state is facing, at minimum, $4 billion deficit (depending on what happens with the federal budget), which makes Albany’s chances for getting this aid even more precarious. Last year, Albany taxpayers were warned about cuts to popular events and key city services until the state legislature eventually passed a late budget. The residents of the 11th Ward and the city as a whole do not need to be burdened with months of uncertainty because City Hall chooses to gamble its finances instead of working to develop a realistic budget.

As your 11th Ward Council Member, I will do my best to work with the Mayor’s Office and my Council colleagues to revise and produce a budget that is fiscally sound and is beneficial to the working families and residents that make up the 11th Ward.