Capital District Delegation Secures New Aid for City of Albany in Final NYS FY2027 Budget
ALBANY, N.Y. – Senator Patricia Fahy (D—Albany), Assemblymember Gabriella Romero (D, WFP–Albany, Guilderland, New Scotland), and Assemblymember John T. McDonald III, RPh (D–Cohoes) announced that the Capital Region delegation secured new state aid for the City of Albany as part of the final FY2027 New York State budget to help stabilize its finances and restore confidence in the Capital City’s fiscal future.
Under this year’s budget agreement, the City of Albany will receive:
$20 million in Capital City Aid
$20 million in new funding to be used to close the City’s current budget gap and minimize impacts on taxpayers
This funding builds upon previous state support for Albany, including the continuation of roughly $20 million annually in recent state budgets. The additional aid secured this year reflects Albany’s unique role as New York’s Capital City and its structural fiscal challenges.
As the state’s Capital City, more than half of all property value within the City of Albany is tax-exempt, including a substantial amount owned by New York State itself, hospitals, universities, and other nonprofit institutions, dramatically limiting the city’s property tax base while still requiring Albany to provide public safety, sanitation, infrastructure, and other municipal services relied upon daily by residents, commuters, students, and visitors alike.
According to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Albany ranks among the cities with the highest share of exempt property value in the state, with 55-62% of property value exempt from taxation. At the same time, Albany has faced rising costs tied to inflation, public safety, aging infrastructure, pension obligations, and the long-term impacts of remote and hybrid work on downtown activity and revenue generation.
Over the last several months, Mayor Applyrs and her administration have made progress in stabilizing Albany’s finances, including implementing operational efficiencies, closely managing departmental spending and overtime, amending legislation to unlock new economic development opportunities throughout the City, identifying $7.6M in savings for 2026, strengthening long-term financial planning, and working collaboratively with state leaders to responsibly address budget pressures without abandoning core city services.
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