Albany council stalls budget adoption, votes to delay city-services fee implementation to Oct. 1

Albany — The Albany City Council on June 11 did not adopt the recommended 2025–27 biennial budget after a divided vote and follow-up debate over a proposed increase in the city-services fee and protections for low-income residents. Later the council approved an amendment to delay implementation of the city-services fee from Aug. 1 to Oct. 1 and directed staff to return with proposals for changes to the low-income assistance program.

Deputy City Manager Kayla Barber Parado presented the budget at a public hearing, describing a two-year spending plan she said preserves core services while adding targeted investments including an additional parks maintenance worker, a reorganization to add a parks manager post, funding for library materials and a facilities-and-programs assessment ($35,000), one additional patrol officer and one detective, and increased stormwater maintenance capacity tied to stormwater-fee revenue. Barber Parado also emphasized investments in automation and internal systems, citing a monday.com pilot she said “has already saved the city $70,000 in hard costs and 360 hours of staff time.”

Why it matters: The budget is Albany’s primary policy document and determines near-term staffing, infrastructure work and how the council’s strategic priorities will be funded. Councilors and members of the public pressed for details about the proposed city-services fee and the low-income assistance program tied to it, saying they wanted clearer evidence that changes would reach eligible households before any fee adjustments took effect.

What happened at the hearing

Barber Parado described the city’s strategic budgeting shift and outreach plans, and said the recommendation contained a number of changes that emerged from the budget review committee and departmental refinements. She told the council the low-income assistance program — administered through partners at Community Services Consortium (CSC) — would reopen for applications on Monday, June 16, and that households earning 60% or less of the state median income would be eligible for up to four units of water per month and a 50% reduction in the city-services fee as currently configured. “The next round of applications are actually opening up on Monday, June 16,” Barber Parado said.

Public comment included residents urging transparency and improved access to assistance. Eric Rao, an Albany resident and member of the city’s Public Safety Commission, told councilors he supported the fee if it improved transparency and stability for essential services, saying the debate centers on “transparency and change and complexity.”

Council debate and votes

After discussion, a motion to adopt the budget “as presented” failed for lack of votes. Councilors recorded three yes votes and two no votes, short of the four-vote threshold required to adopt the budget on June 11; the council agreed to continue the public hearing and bring the budget back for action at a special meeting on Wednesday, June 18.

On a related item later in the evening, Councilor Chris Van Dremelen moved to adopt the staff recommendation on the city-services fee with an amendment: delay the fee’s start date from Aug. 1 to Oct. 1 and direct city staff to return with feasible proposals to adjust the low-income assistance portion of the fee by that October date. The motion passed in a roll-call vote (yes: Councilor Newton Azor, Councilor Van Dremelen, Councilor McLeod, Councilor Smith; no: Councilor Thompson). The amended resolution directs staff to bring options to council in July or August, allowing time to evaluate administrative capacity and to publicize application opportunities before the new fee would take effect.

Clarifying details and next steps

- Fee level and indexing: The staff-recommended city-services fee increase that prompted the debate was described in council materials as a shift to $14.82 with an index to inflation; any new start date would delay billing changes until implementation and any reassessment of the low-income assistance eligibility. - Low-income assistance: Under the program as described to council, eligibility is set at 60% of the state median income; the benefit includes up to four units of water per month and a 50% reduction in the city-services fee. Barber Parado told council that, by the staff’s estimates, full forgiveness of that fee for currently enrolled households would be on the order of roughly $15,500 of foregone revenue under current enrollment levels; even a substantial increase in participation would not, by itself, sink the recommended budget, staff said. - Data and timing: Staff said CSC processes applications across multiple programs and that the shortened application window used to limit last-minute, incomplete filings is typically one week; the city will seek monthly reporting on application volumes and credits issued so council can assess whether outreach and procedural changes increase uptake.

Council direction and implications

Councilors asked staff to return with concrete options that could include raising the low-income discount from 50% to a higher level, targeted exemptions for specific household types, or broader program redesigns. Several council members emphasized the need to weigh administrative costs: staff warned that highly granular sliding scales or expansions for multifamily buildings with single meters would require substantial changes to city billing and customer-service systems and might be infeasible without investment in billing technology.

The council will reconvene June 18 to continue the public hearing on the budget; city staff will supply the requested options for low-income assistance and implementation timelines ahead of any final vote on the budget and related fee changes.