To save the City of Albany almost 1.2 million Dollars over 4 years, we, the voters in the City of Albany need to eliminate half of the Common Council members. With the decrease in population to 90,000 people, the city could, with the new census numbers reduce the number of wards from 15 to 7.

The Council Members get an annual pay and benefit package of almost $30,000 dollars each and are considered full time employees in the NYS pension system.

The City of Buffalo has 10 Wards with 3 times our population, the cities of Syracuse and Rochester have 9 council members each and they are double our population and the Town of Colonie has 6 town board members with about the same population.

As a City of Albany resident and an active member of the community, I find it difficult to justify what they do for the money. Most of the members work for the NY State Government FULL time and get this as a bonus. They have no power and no budget input, so what good are they.

Secondly we need to eliminate the elected position of Common Council President. This position pays almost $40,000 per year and has no power at all and no voting privileges. The duties of the council president, what little they are, would be done by the Majority Leader of the council.

I have many other ways to save the city money and will introduce them in the coming weeks. I am asking for everyone’s help with ways of saving the City of Albany money. If you have suggestions e-mail me.

If we work together we can make a difference.
Timothy L. Carney
City of Albany