If there is one thing that no home owner wants to hear it’s the word increase next to the words property tax. Unfortunately for the city of Albany that appears to be on the table from looking at Mayor Kathy Sheehan’s proposed budget for 2026.
CBS 6 reports that many residents are fuming after hearing about the proposed increase to the already high property tax in the city. Property and school tax in Albany have gone up over the last few years, and according to OwnWell, Albany has a high property tax rate compared to the median rate around the rest of the country.
How much is the increase?
According to the proposed budget from Mayor Sheehan, they’re looking at a 7.3% increase for single family homes and a double digit increase of over 11% for homes with two units. For homes with three or more they’re looking at a 15% increase. The city is quickly going to price people out of being able to live there.
I will also add that these increases come as Mayor Sheehan is preparing to leave office and make way for this to be a problem for whomever will be taking over after the November midterm election takes place. That’s really not fair to them because if they approve this budget it’s not like they can backtrack and lower the property taxes with the snap of the fingers. In fact they likely wouldn’t be able to and you as the property owner would need to do it yourself by challenging the assessed value of your home…