ALBANY — Weeks before Mayor Dorcey Applyrs publicly acknowledged a $37 million fiscal crisis, city officials received salary increases and new administrative positions were created.
Questions raised during a Common Council debate on those expenditures — which were all ultimately approved — show that the mayor’s staff and several members of the council were aware of the precarious state of the city’s finances well before the mayor announced wide-ranging austerity measures and the potential for cuts to city services last week.
The hiring and salary decisions do not represent a significant chunk of the shortfall Applyrs announced last week, which amounts to a $15 million deficit for 2025 and a projected $22 million shortfall in 2026…