ALBANY — Calling Albany a city that quietly carries the weight of state government while struggling under decades-old financial constraints, new Mayor Dorcey Applyrs on Wednesday asked state lawmakers for help.
Applyrs told a legislative panel at a budget hearing at the Capitol that her city’s “resilience and determination” can no longer compensate for a funding system she said is fundamentally unfair.
The mayor said the city’s fiscal challenges are rooted in state decisions, which have shrunk the city’s tax base, leaving more than half of its properties tax-exempt and forcing residents to shoulder one of the highest tax burdens in New York…