[1:50] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

[3:06] Good morning. I want to welcome the many elected officials who are here. I want to thank the members of our

[3:15] common councilor here. I see Deb Zamer and Jenny Farrell and anybody else. I can't, the lights are in my eyes. But thank you for coming. I'm also joined by our city

[3:26] and our Chief City Auditor, Dorsey Applears, and a number of our incredible commissioners and directors, the people who really run the city and make things work to present our proposed budget plan for 2024.

[3:43] And I start this presentation the same way every year, which is to remind us of why we are here.

[3:49] We are here to serve the residents of the city of Albany.

[3:54] We're here to ensure that it is a place that is safe.

[3:57] But all of us place ourselves at the service of this city so that we can create and support and build a safe healthy and economically vibrant community.

[4:08] And that is what this budget is designed to do.

[4:11] So let's talk a little bit about the economic outlook.

[4:14] There are some indicators that seem to point in the direction of the economy expanding at a solid pace.

[4:22] Job gains have slowed in the recent months, but they remain strong.

[4:28] The inflation is moving in the right direction, although there are indications that there are still some pretty significant inflationary pressures out there.

[4:37] Our unemployment rate remains relatively low and we are lower than many of the other averages

[4:44] across the country.

[4:46] And in the city of Albany, right now we have, as of July of 2023, the highest number of

[4:53] people employed since they began capturing this data in January of 2000.

[4:58] So all of those are strong indicators.

[5:01] But we also know that there are pressures.

[5:06] Rents are going up everywhere, including in the city of Albany.

[5:11] And we have seen that upward pressure here.

[5:14] We also are concerned about the impacts of a shutdown of the federal government.

[5:21] I've been in contact with the county executive's office because these cuts will be,

[5:26] oh, Sonia, sorry, I didn't see you there.

[5:28] The chair of our finance committee, I must make sure that I welcome you to this revealing of our budget.

[5:35] And that potential shutdown could really have an impact on our residents.

[5:40] So those who are receiving WIC benefits, SNAP benefits, depending on how long this shutdown lasts.

[5:47] If it happens, could really have some really significant impacts on our residents here.

[5:52] And so we'll be working closely with the county executive's office to understand what those

[5:57] challenges may be.

[5:58] Fortunately, in New York State, we have a state government that pre funds a number of

[6:03] these programs and so we're cautiously optimistic, but it is a concern.

[6:09] As I said, rents are increasing interest rates remain high and they are projected to remain

[6:15] high through 2026.

[6:17] And so we use this information to ensure that the assumptions that we make in the decisions

[6:21] that we make are prudent. So our budget for 20-24, we are proposing a $226 million budget

[6:30] that's up from 218 million. Many of you might ask what is driving that increase and it's actually

[6:36] quite simple. The good news is that increased state and federal aid leads to increased expenditures.

[6:44] So we have to invest the resources that we receive through our budget and those resources are being

[6:50] spent in our neighborhoods and in our community.

[6:53] And I'm going to highlight some grants,

[6:55] but the give grant, which helps with public safety,

[6:58] our urban forestry grant, that we were successfully

[7:00] getting opioid resettlement money.

[7:02] All of that funding must be spent.

[7:05] And of course, we also are seeing increased pressures on wage

[7:10] and benefits, and that makes up a significant part

[7:13] of our increase, and it represents 70% of our budget.

[7:16] So, where is our revenue coming from?

[7:20] We are projecting an increase in state and federal aid.

[7:25] State aid is up $1.4 million, including $800,000, which is the increase that we're getting

[7:32] for our given initiatives, which have proven to be incredibly successful.

[7:36] And I want to thank Governor Hokel for recognizing that it's important to fund this very

[7:41] impactful program.

[7:42] Our federal aid is up due to the utilization of our befunding which we must utilize by 2024 and we're projecting sales tax up about $1.7 million.

[7:53] We continue to see strong economic activity that is driving that sales tax revenue up.

[8:01] We are proposing to increase the tax levy by below the cap 1.6% increase since 2015 which was my first budget.

[8:09] We have increased taxes on average less than 1% a year, so well below inflation, well below the property tax cap.

[8:18] What this impact is going to be is that our residents are going to see a slight increase.

[8:24] Roughly $90 over the course of the year of an increase in their 2024 city property tax because of our homestead non homestead balancing that we are continuing down the path of trying to equalize.

[8:38] our businesses will see a decrease in their city property tax bill of roughly $274.

[8:47] So I want to say this very clearly.

[8:50] This non-home set rate applies to all of our residential units that are buildings of four

[8:58] units or more.

[8:59] So if you are a renter in the city of Albany and you live in an apartment building that has

[9:04] at least four units, don't let your

[9:08] landlord tell you that your rent is going to go up because taxes are going to go up.

[9:13] Taxes are going to go down and again this is the type of thing that we look at in a city

[9:18] where more than 60% of our property is rental property is what is what are the things that we can do

[9:25] to address the upward pressure on rents. And so this is again an indication of my administrations,

[9:31] concerns, concern, care, and the hard work that it takes to ensure that we are doing what

[9:38] we can to not contribute to those increases in rents.

[9:43] As I said, wages and benefits are up, about $10 million, wages are up, 5.4 of that, benefits

[9:50] 4.5.

[9:52] Those are big numbers, but again, this is what we need to do to ensure that we are able to

[9:59] positions that our workforce is paid fairly, and that we are doing all that we can to ensure

[10:06] that we are able to attract people to these jobs and deliver on essential city services.

[10:14] Our capital plan is bold.

[10:16] These are big numbers, and I know that we will have some pretty significant discussions

[10:21] around this as we roll this budget out and as we talk about our capital plan over the coming

[10:27] years.

[10:27] But these are investments that are necessary, and I'm going to talk a bit more about these investments a little bit later in this presentation.

[10:37] So what are we investing in? Number one, we're investing in public safety.

[10:42] And we are seeing an impact on reductions coming from the efforts of the Albany Police Department.

[10:48] a 34% decline in confirmed shots fired, a 39% decrease in shooting incidents, 39% decrease

[10:56] in shooting victims, but one crime is a crime too many, and we have significant work

[11:02] that we need to continue to do an investments that we need to continue to make in order

[11:07] to ensure that we are creating the safest city in America.

[11:11] So this budget invests in a street treatment program and partnership with Albany County to try to prevent some of the challenges that we see in the quality of life issues that we're seeing across our community.

[11:27] We don't always need to call the police, but we do need to ensure that we're addressing those public, those quality of life issues in order for people to feel safe in our community.

[11:37] You've seen the numbers, but we still hear from too many of our residents and businesses that they don't feel safe.

[11:43] And so we need to ensure that we have people who are experts in treating addiction, in helping people to find housing,

[11:52] who are really engaging with people who are struggling in our communities so that we can get people to help that they need.

[11:58] And we are also in this budget providing social workers at center and south stations.

[12:07] We have individuals who walk into our police departments in crisis.

[12:12] On an almost daily basis, we have arrestees who are taken to our stations on a daily basis

[12:18] who are often suffering from a mental health crisis.

[12:21] We want to be able to address those issues with the right people in the right places at the

[12:26] right time.

[12:27] And so that is an investment that we are making in public safety, but also how we deal with the challenges in a compassionate and constructive way that people are facing in our community.

[12:40] We are putting together a working group to explore a court, which would then take these social workers and actually deploy them on certain calls.

[12:49] And so that is something that we are looking forward to exploring, again, with Albany County.

[12:54] And we continue to invest in a police auxiliary program so that we have individuals.

[12:59] We don't have to have sworn officers that are dealing with some of the issues and some of the events that happen across our city.

[13:07] So we're looking to relieve our officers from those types of duties, our parades, our various events,

[13:14] of going into our parks, making sure things are safe and really focusing on police issues.

[13:21] We're also investing in our workforce.

[13:24] We have raised our living wage by nearly 5% to $18.37 an hour.

[13:31] My administration is committed to ensuring that we lead, whether it's with respect to public

[13:44] and care that we're investing in and that we're leading by paying people a living wage so

[13:49] that they can provide for themselves and their families in an environment where we know

[13:53] inflationary pressures are really challenging for many of our families.

[13:58] And so this is a way for us to say we are leading and we want other employers across our city

[14:06] to understand what it takes for families to be able to make it in our community.

[14:10] and for all of them to be paying a living wage to their employees.

[14:14] Our vacancy rate of our positions across the city has declined 29% year over year.

[14:21] We were really struggling with a very high vacancy rate in our positions.

[14:25] It's still too high, but we are moving in the right direction.

[14:29] And that's because of the investments that we're making in the people who help us run this city.

[14:34] We have settled 12 of our 13 contracts with our bargaining units.

[14:40] We've settled a police contract and a fire contract.

[14:44] They are settled for the first time in recent memory through 2026.

[14:49] So, we're really focused on ensuring that we are working with our workforce to meet the needs

[14:57] and be able to ensure that we have...

[14:59] Bye!

[15:00] Firefighters in the Firehouse Police Officers on our streets and a workforce, including our sanitation workers and all of our unionized workers,

[15:10] fairly paid with settled contracts. And the contract has allowed us to look at our longevity issue. And in one of the things that we dealt with in the police contract was providing an increase in the longevity pay in a hope that more of our officers will stay beyond 20 years.

[15:28] We do continue to struggle. I will say unequivocally. I do not anticipate in 2024 the city of Albany being able to get to full strength in the police department.

[15:42] I've stood here in past years with optimism and hope that we would be able to do that, but given the fact that only 118 people sat for the police civil service exam.

[15:55] And of those 40 of them, we're taking the test here, but have expressed a desire to work

[16:02] in an apartment in another community.

[16:04] It's a very challenging environment for our police officers.

[16:07] And we need to be doing all that we can to ensure that we are addressing that issue and

[16:13] that we are planning for it because it's not acceptable for us to say to someone we don't

[16:17] have a police officer to send.

[16:20] We're investing in our neighborhoods, the new department of neighborhood services and I want

[16:24] thank the council members for their support of this, for the ideas that they brought to

[16:28] the table. It's a better department because of your input and because we worked collaboratively

[16:34] together to reimagine how we could address neighborhood concerns. We've seen an 87% increase

[16:42] improvement in our response times to see click fix. We've been able to provide $2 million of assistance

[16:48] to new homeowners and for homeowners who need help with housing repairs to be able to stay in their homes and we're going to continue to invest in this model in 2024.

[17:00] We're investing in our infrastructure.

[17:02] You know, this is another historic investment in our complete streets,

[17:06] 19 million dollars for streets and sidewalks.

[17:10] We are focused on ensuring that we're investing in speed reduction and in working to ensure that

[17:18] that we are doing all that we can to keep pedestrian safe on our streets.

[17:22] And we are also doing additional pedestrian improvements, 4.5 million dollars.

[17:29] We are also investing, I should say there's not a slide for it, but we're investing in the historic building.

[17:36] And it's a significant amount of funding that is needed to put a new roof on this building.

[17:40] But this is one of the most historic structures, not just in the capital region, but in the country.

[17:46] It is an example of a time and an era when their public pride in buildings like City Halls was reflected in the construction of those places and spaces, and so it's incumbent upon us to make sure that we preserve it.

[18:06] We're investing in ensuring that we have a resource in place.

[18:11] I've talked to a number of the council members about this, as you know, our city engineer recently moved on to DOT.

[18:17] We'll be asking him for lots of money.

[18:20] But it gives us an opportunity to really focus.

[18:23] And I've heard this from a number of council members of looking at what other cities do,

[18:29] where an engineering department sits as its own department and is at the service of the entire city.

[18:35] And so we are proposing to pull it out of the Department of General Services,

[18:40] re-incorporate traffic engineering into that department,

[18:44] building and maintenance, looking at the buildings that we maintain and that we own,

[18:49] and really ensuring that we are doing all that we can to maximize that resource

[18:55] and the hard work of those in our engineering department.

[19:00] We are investing in world-class recreation facilities.

[19:03] the Lincoln Park Pool, the West Hill Community Center,

[19:06] Hoffman Park, I'm going to be talking a little bit more about some of the investments that

[19:09] we're making there, but these are really critical investments that we're making and sending

[19:14] a message to communities that we're left behind and that didn't see this type of investment.

[19:19] The Lincoln Park Pool almost closed and so these are historic investments that are not only

[19:26] going to set us on a pace to be able to have these world class facilities for our residents for

[19:31] decades to come, but they're going to send a message to neighborhoods that were formally redlined

[19:37] that yes.

[19:38] It's not just investing millions of dollars in downtown, it's not just investing millions

[19:42] of dollars out at the Western part of Albany, as we saw Nanotech go up and all of the investments

[19:50] that the state has been making, we're investing in their neighborhoods and that sends a very

[19:55] powerful message.

[19:56] And I think the council for their continued support of that.

[19:59] We're also going to be investing because of grant money in continuing to invest in our

[20:06] incredibly, incredibly preserve.

[20:08] We're looking at rehabilitating our tricentennial park.

[20:11] We're reimagining Madison Park.

[20:13] We know that we've had some public safety issues there and we think that we can make some investments there that will improve safety.

[20:20] We're looking at we're continuing to revitalize our playgrounds next year.

[20:24] We'll be White Hall and the playground out at six mile waterworks,

[20:28] which I see our commissioner of our water department here,

[20:32] we sort of steward that facility together,

[20:35] but this is an investment that needs to be made.

[20:38] And we continue to rehabilitate our spray pads.

[20:41] You know, we are also continuing to invest in our youth.

[20:44] Our summer youth employment program has proven

[20:47] to be incredibly effective.

[20:49] We need to continue to invest in our youth.

[20:51] We need to continue to ensure that we're doing all

[20:53] that we can to put our kids on a strong path

[20:56] to a bright and exciting future.

[21:00] We want them to stay in our community

[21:01] invest and be successful here.

[21:04] We are also investing in our health.

[21:08] We have incredible leadership in our fire department.

[21:11] I want to thank Joe Gregory for being here.

[21:15] But we have seen that in the city of Albany, unfortunately,

[21:19] we have the longest ER wait times anywhere in the state.

[21:24] And that is impacting ambulances that are going and sitting at the hospitals waiting to be able to get patients admitted.

[21:35] It's driving up our costs, but we owe it to our residents to ensure that we can provide fast emergency services and continue to get people to the emergency room as quickly as possible.

[21:47] So, we are going to be investing in additional $600,000 to add ambulance services to address

[21:56] this issue of the continued long wait times at our ERs.

[22:02] We are investing in our future.

[22:05] You know, Governor Hockel has said that we are the first generation to experience the impacts

[22:11] of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something about it.

[22:15] And so we are doing our part to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, but we need to do more and the 2024 budget recognizes that.

[22:25] We are going to be purchasing a majority of our energy from renewable sources.

[22:31] We're investing in EV chargers and electric station planning.

[22:35] We're investing to convert our city fleet to all electric.

[22:39] We're replacing more street lights, we're continuing to invest in DGS's composting program,

[22:45] which has been incredibly successful for every million metric tons of organic waste that

[22:50] we decompose, that's 469 metric tons of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases that will not

[22:58] be released as methane.

[23:00] And so composting reduces those emissions and we need to ensure that we are doing our part.

[23:06] We're investing $1.8 million over the next five years in our urban forestry program.

[23:12] Again, thanks to an investment in federal dollars that we will be receiving for that.

[23:18] According to the Arbor Day Foundation, a mature tree will absorb almost 50 pounds of CO2 a year.

[23:24] So not only do we need to invest in trees so that we can reduce the heat impact

[23:29] from not having enough shade, but those trees also absorb carbon dioxide.

[23:34] And we're partnering with the Radix Center to study the effects of tree cover on urban heat islands which will help us to know where we need to plant more trees and will also assist us in getting even more government funding to be able to do that.

[23:49] We are rewriting our climate action plan thanks to a grant that we expect to get to ensure that we're looking at what we can do to ensure that we're ready for the impacts of climate change.

[24:02] And we need to, again, reduce emissions.

[24:06] Tailpipe emissions are a huge emitter.

[24:09] As is gas, natural gas, those are the two biggest

[24:14] emissions sources here in the city of Albany.

[24:16] So as we electrify our fleet, as we electrify our buildings

[24:19] and cars, we're reducing our gas emissions.

[24:23] But it is going to take some significant investment.

[24:25] And we will be walking through why that number is so big

[24:29] over the next five years to build out the infrastructure

[24:31] or to do that. So, you know, we are very good at securing other resources to help to offset

[24:40] the cost of this. And that is due in no small part to the hard work of those who lead our

[24:48] departments. In order to access this funding, we have to have plans. Those plans take a significant

[24:55] amount of work to create. They take a lot of dedication on the part of our workforce. And

[25:01] Because they are so good at what they do, we are good at getting funding to help us to achieve these goals.

[25:07] So we are looking at $11.3 million that we're receiving for our roadways, 3.9 million for infrastructure and recreation facility.

[25:16] I mean, you can see these numbers up here.

[25:18] These are numbers that are really helping us to be able to deliver on these world-class investments for our city and for our community.

[25:28] We've also invested a significant amount of money in our, of our, of our, our, our American

[25:35] Rescue Plan funding in transformative projects.

[25:38] And so for those of you who want to know, how is that money been spent so far?

[25:43] $8 million is out the door of the $25 million that's been granted.

[25:49] We have seen a million dollars plus go to our small businesses, many of them, minority and

[25:56] We've prevented 70 and this is plus because this is an old number.

[26:00] I think we just prevented an eviction yesterday.

[26:04] But we've prevented 70 evictions.

[26:06] We've replaced lead services.

[26:09] We've created 88 affordable units of housing.

[26:13] Six new affordable homes.

[26:15] We're going to build 100.

[26:16] But six of them are already built and occupied.

[26:19] We have supported over 200 residents through to help navigate accessing food and security issues, financial issues, helping to figure out how to get their kids registered for school.

[26:33] Lots of challenges that families just need that extra help, 220 plus people have received those services so far.

[26:41] We've helped acquire 3,000 square feet for a new LGBTQI and BIPOC service delivery facility that is going to be run by in our own voices, and we've purchased a 23,000 square foot building that is going to be the future home of the West Hill Community Center.

[26:59] We're renovating Hoffman Park.

[27:02] We're going to be providing additional homes for our partnership with Habitat for Humanity,

[27:08] as well as the Albany Land Trust and the Albany Housing Alliance.

[27:13] The Clinton Market Collective, anybody who's been driving up or down Clinton Avenue,

[27:18] is having challenges, but that's good because it means that new infrastructure is going in.

[27:22] We're very excited about seeing that open.

[27:25] We're going to be installing wayfinding downtown to make people feel safer understand where

[27:31] our amazing attractions are and how to get there safely and we're going to be doing a second

[27:36] round of small business grants. So these dollars are being invested. They're having an impact.

[27:43] I had a woman stop me yesterday to tell me about a grant that we provided to her and her small

[27:49] business and she was so grateful for that grant.

[27:54] It made the difference between her being able to start a small business or not.

[27:59] We just opened a new coffee shop on Pearl Street.

[28:01] Again, in minority owned business by somebody who didn't think that they would necessarily

[28:05] be able to open this business.

[28:08] They had had a dream to open it for many years in Albany and with help from our

[28:13] are befunding they were able to fulfill that dream.

[28:16] So very exciting times.

[28:19] So President Biden often tells the story

[28:22] of his father's expression.

[28:24] Don't tell me what you value, show me your budget,

[28:27] and I'll tell you what you value.

[28:29] And I believe that this budget sends a clear message

[28:31] to the residents of the city of Albany that we value them

[28:36] and that in order to ensure that we are doing

[28:39] the best that we can for those who live here,

[28:42] we're making historic investments in public safety,

[28:45] in mental health services, in world-class recreational facilities,

[28:49] in our parks, in our streets, our sidewalks,

[28:52] walkability, sustainability, our city workforce.

[28:56] When we look at these facilities that we are building

[28:58] at both Hoffman Park and at West Hill,

[29:01] we have a significant focus on our seniors

[29:04] and ensuring that we are addressing the needs of our seniors

[29:07] to have safe places to go and to have an engage in community.

[29:11] And so this is a budget for our future and for our residents and our city workforce.

[29:18] I want to thank Gideon Grant, our budget director and his team, Catherine and Joel.

[29:23] I want to thank our new Commissioner of Administrative Services, Anne Marie Samman, who didn't miss a beat

[29:29] and helped to put together this incredible budget took a lot of hard work.

[29:34] And they've created a document that I think clearly reflects what we value as a city.

[29:39] I don't think that we've ever had a brighter outlook.

[29:43] Notwithstanding the challenges that we're facing, notwithstanding the struggles that people

[29:47] are still experiencing as we come back from COVID, but that is the time for us to roll up

[29:52] our sleeves, ensure that we are looking through compassionate eyes at those who are struggling

[29:58] and coming up with...

[30:00] Real solutions for how to help them both using the funding that is available to us as a city, but also with our partners.

[30:10] And when I look at how closely we work with our partners at the state level and at the county level, I think we're a model for the country, because we get things done and we solve problems and we continue to work together and it wouldn't happen without the incredible hard work of everyone in this room.

[30:28] I want to also remind us that we didn't get here overnight.

[30:34] We do face some headwinds and so we have to ensure that we are fiscally responsible and

[30:40] that we hold the line on spending and that we do things that are going to make sure that

[30:46] we're able to continue to sustain these initiatives going forward, but we've been able to

[30:52] get through a lot before and when I came into office, we faced some really serious challenges.

[30:59] We've been able to slowly build a fund balance.

[31:02] It's still too small.

[31:03] The state controller still doesn't like the size of it, but we're getting there.

[31:08] And so I think that together with the way that we've demonstrated how we've addressed

[31:13] the American Rescue Plan with the bipartisan Infrastructure Act funding that is available,

[31:18] the funding that's available under the Inflation Reduction Act,

[31:21] the historic pieces of legislation that are helping to keep our police officers and firefighters

[31:26] on the streets and allow us to tackle climate change that we will continue to stay on a path

[31:33] of growth and investment for our cities. And so I look forward to working with our residents

[31:39] and the members of the Albany Common Council to approve this budget and to continue to move our

[31:46] I want to direct your attention, though, to this is just a small example when you talk about what we value.

[31:54] There was a letter to the editor that was in the paper, I believe it was yesterday, from an employee of our Department of General Services,

[32:01] who was a sanitation worker, who was somebody who was formally incarcerated, and who talked about the importance of giving people a second chance.

[32:08] and who expressed gratitude for the second chance that he was given.

[32:12] And the fact that he is able to have a job with benefits that sustains him,

[32:19] that allows him to get his life back on track.

[32:22] And I want to thank the Commissioner of our Department of General Services.

[32:27] You know, Sergio Pinozio was at the front of the line

[32:30] when we talked about giving people a second chance.

[32:33] And it can present challenges, but that's what we do.

[32:36] that's what we do. We lead by example. So when we ask the broader community to do certain

[32:42] things, we start by doing it ourselves. So I could not stand here and would not be standing

[32:47] here. If it were not for the hard work of our directors and commissioners, some of whom

[32:52] are in the room, some of whom I'm sure are watching the livestream, some of whom are in very

[32:58] important meetings, helping to get us more money. But I want to give you a round of applause

[33:02] and thank you for all of your hard work.

[33:10] So all of you for all powered by pride and potential,

[33:14] I am happy to take questions from the media.

[33:33] So we are, first of all, the entire city fleet is pretty ambitious.

[33:37] There are certain vehicles for which there is not an electric option.

[33:42] But we are looking at $11 million over the course of five years

[33:47] to build out the infrastructure that would be needed to support

[33:51] that fleet because it's not just buying the vehicles and in fact there are funding sources

[33:57] for buying vehicles that we've been successful in being able to tap into but it's also

[34:04] the infrastructure that will be needed throughout the city to be able to charge those vehicles

[34:10] going forward.

[34:15] Okay thank you. You mentioned when it comes to recruitment for police

[34:19] and you mentioned some numbers there as well. What needs the change to be able to kind of

[34:24] change this trend, if you will, and this section for you.

[34:28] You know, I think that we have to be really clear about the job.

[34:33] And I think for, you know, when you look at, you know, what has happened across the industry,

[34:40] we are not the only ones.

[34:41] You know, there are communities that are disbanding their police departments and having their

[34:46] counties come in to provide policing in their communities because they can't find police

[34:50] officers.

[34:51] So one of the things that we are doing with this budget is we are working really hard to ensure that we're providing a clear path for police officers or people who want to be police officers to see what that career trajectory looks like and what our expectations are of our officers.

[35:11] And I think we still have the reaction when we see social challenges, when we see the failures of our healthcare system, or our education system, or our mental health system that result in impacts on quality of life that we immediately look to the police to solve that.

[35:35] And I think for those who are thinking about entering that career, that's a real challenge.

[35:43] So I think the more that we can do to ensure that we're providing the supports that are needed,

[35:49] and bringing on the professionals that are needed to fill those roles, we can make it more clear

[35:54] of what we expect of our police officers.

[35:57] And that has to come from the community, and that's what our policing reform collaborative was all about.

[36:03] We have the playbook, and we have to continue to execute on that playbook so that we can ensure

[36:10] that this is a career path that people can look to and understand.

[36:15] We also think that our auxiliary program will help.

[36:18] We also believe that in looking at the contracts that we've made some real progress in ensuring

[36:29] that we're making this an attractive career choice.

[36:32] When we ask individuals to put their lives on the line, we have to demonstrate in our budget that that's something that we value.

[36:40] And being able to, we've now settled two contracts with the police union.

[36:46] In very short order, we were able to settle a contract that went back to, I think, 2014.

[36:52] And then we were able to settle a contract going forward.

[36:55] And so, I think that those are positives that will help to increase the interest in our

[37:02] in policing.

[37:03] But we have to rethink policing.

[37:04] We have to really rethink what it is that we expect of our police officers and who we

[37:10] send and what we do, that's why this street treatment program is so important.

[37:15] Why are we waiting for somebody to call 911 because somebody's in crisis?

[37:19] We should have a street treatment team who's out there who knows that a particular individual

[37:26] is no longer taking their meds and they need to be reconnected with health services in order

[37:31] to be able to address that issue.

[37:34] We should know before that crisis occurs and that's what we're looking to do with the street

[37:39] treatment program.

[37:48] Yes, I actually glossed over that and I should not have.

[37:51] So, we have received another grant that allows us to expand our summer youth employment program to be more of a year around program.

[38:02] So, really focused on engaging young people in work opportunities during the school year.

[38:09] So, we have applications out now for that program. We're really excited about it.

[38:13] We were able to do it last year for a pretty small pool of people. We have $600,000, which is an increase.

[38:20] And so I think the nice thing about that funding source is the more successful we are, the more money we get.

[38:28] So we're really looking forward to that. We are always looking for employers who are willing to take on a young person,

[38:36] to really mentor them, have them see what if they're interested in a particular career path, what that career looks like,

[38:43] and be able to take advantage of that opportunity.

[38:48] You mentioned the ARPA funding, the American Rescue Plan Act, and the eight million that's

[38:53] Benzfent, the 2024, I guess, deadline to get that money out the door.

[38:58] It's another 25 million.

[39:01] How much of a sense of urgency is there to make sure you can use that money before it

[39:04] maybe gets pulled back?

[39:06] There's a real sense of urgency.

[39:07] We are working with the recipients to make sure that that money gets out the door.

[39:11] Some of the recipients, we think we're going to have a lot of money that's going to go out the door relatively quickly,

[39:19] but especially where there are capital improvements that we're part of that funding grant.

[39:25] You know, those take longer being able to identify, for example, in our own voices moved very quickly.

[39:32] We're pleased that they were able to identify a location and purchase that location.

[39:37] Some of the other funding is a little bit longer term.

[39:41] it has to be allocated by the end of next year,

[39:44] which means they have to have contracts,

[39:46] and then they have to have it all spent

[39:48] by the end of 2020, six.

[40:01] So this budget includes an increase

[40:05] because the police department budget went up.

[40:08] So it's the Statutorily under local law J,

[40:10] which was pass fire voters.

[40:12] It calls for mandates that I provide

[40:15] 1% of the police department budget for the CPRB.

[40:19] Last year, they asked for a one-time increase in that to pay a consultant, which the council provided.

[40:28] But it was clear at that time, at least to me, and we'll have conversations with the council about it, that that was a one-time amount of money that was needed to deal with the consulting firm that they were working with.

[40:41] And so I have not received a written budget request from the CPRB at all in advance of releasing

[40:51] this budget.

[40:53] So at this point we're at the 1% statutory amount.

[40:57] I can say that it's 35% higher than what they spent in 2022.

[41:03] And right now, based on how much the CPRB has spent, they're at less than half of what was allocated to them in the 2023 budget, and you know, we are at the beginning of October.

[41:21] So,

[41:31] the Police Department does have a social worker who works at the Police Department as part

[41:39] of our give grant.

[41:41] There is a social service component to that, where there is a resource available at the

[41:47] Police Department to help connect individuals with services, with housing, and so we would

[41:56] anticipate that that individual would oversee, but there is a supervisory position that is part

[42:03] of the budget to oversee that.

[42:05] I try to be really careful because the county has a Department of Mental Health and Dr.

[42:11] Dr. Dr. Dr. Drodano does an amazing job.

[42:14] The fact that they did a pilot program, a street pilot, and really went out to see what was

[42:19] happening in the community is an example that I think counties across the state should look

[42:27] to.

[42:27] And I'm hearing that there are some counties that are doing that.

[42:30] I just heard that Anadaga County is doing that.

[42:32] So that's great.

[42:35] But, you know, so I try to be very careful about what we manage because we don't have a department

[42:40] of social services.

[42:40] It's not what we do.

[42:41] But, in this instance, we believe that we see enough crisis happening and issues and trauma

[42:53] happening in our police stations that it warrants having a social worker that is there.

[42:59] Again, it frees up police officers' time, they provide and have a background and experience

[43:07] to be able to not just de-escalate our police officers do a really good job of de-escalating,

[43:13] but then what? Because then we need to be able to get people connected to the treatment that they need.

[43:26] The 600,000 for the ambulance for the wait times. How will that address this issue? Obviously,

[43:31] it's a much bigger issue than that, but what will that do? How will alleviate some of the issue there?

[43:35] I mean, historically, the ambulance service contract that the city has with Mohawk ambulance

[43:45] has been able to be self-sustaining, so they're able to bill for their services and so it

[43:53] has not been at a cost to the city, because those wait times have grown exponentially.

[44:01] They can no longer do that.

[44:03] We have a high population of people who need to be transported for whom there is no reimbursement

[44:10] stream.

[44:11] And they need to add additional personnel and additional apparatus because we've looked at

[44:19] the calls, we've looked at where we're dispatching and how often we're dispatching.

[44:26] And those wait times are just unacceptably too long.

[44:29] And so, they have to add apparatus and people for which their reimbursement is not going to cover,

[44:35] and so the city of Albany is putting that bill.

[44:41] Thank you very much.

Mayor Sheehan's 2024 Proposed Budget Presentation

Transcript