Albany County is decreasing its property tax rate for the 13th straight year, County Executive Dan McCoy announced Monday during a presentation of his proposed 2027 budget.
The proposed $950 million spending plan would set the tax rate next year at $2.48 per $1,000 of assessed property value, down eight cents from this year.
The budget, which increases spending by $45 million, is balanced by withdrawing $25 million from the county's general fund balance, according to the budget proposal.
"This budget is stable because we have built a strong foundation since I came into office. We prepared for a rainy day and it has arrived as a major storm," McCoy said in a statement. "Despite that, we have been able to stay below the tax cap; the tax rate has again gone down; and we are preserving programs and services."
McCoy, a Democrat, said he would have liked to decrease property taxes more, but said that was impossible because of increasing insurance and pension costs, as well as an additional $25 million in unfunded mandates.
"Is it going to be the relief we want to give our constituents? Hell no," McCoy said in a speech Monday. "But if I didn't have these unfunded mandates, we could do more. We could do more, but we can't because our hands are tied."
Many of those mandates were the result of federal cuts to programs like SNAP passed in the Big Beautiful Bill that were passed on to the state and then to the county, McCoy said.
County Legislator Frank Mauriello, a Republican who is running for for New York State Assembly in the 110th District, said he would like to cut taxes more. He agreed with McCoy that the unfunded mandates were "unsustainable" and laid the blame at the feet of Democrats in state government.
"I am hopeful in the weeks and months ahead that County leaders can come together to craft a final budget which provides a larger tax cut, is fiscally conservative and focuses on the everyday costs of living facing residents," Mauriello said in a statement. "But we need our state leaders to step up and partner with us to make the lives of our constituents more affordable."
If passed, the budget would mark the fourth year in a row that the county hasn't issued bonds to pay for infrastructure projects.
The county's budget proposal comes weeks after Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs proposed raising the city's property tax levy by 15% for 2027.
