ALBANY — The Common Council is retreating from a series of scheduled public meetings on the city’s fiscal health while scores of questions from lawmakers for the mayor, treasurer and budget office have, so far, not been answered.
The gatherings, set up by the council’s Finance, Assessment and Taxation Committee as part of its regular meetings this month, are labeled in online agenda postings as first, second and third conversations on the city’s budget. They are currently scheduled for April 15, 22 and 29 and would allow for comments from the public.
But during a caucus before last Monday’s regular meeting of the Common Council, lawmakers suggested they would scrap at least two of those conversations until after the state Legislature passed its 2026 budget, which is a week and a half past its deadline. The council members acknowledged they had submitted approximately 80 specific questions to Mayor Dorcey Applyrs and her administration about how the city arrived at a $15 million budget shortfall, which could rise to $22 million in 2027…