Most residents are surprised to learn that revenues from property taxes alone are not enough to cover even police and fire services, let alone parks and recreation, library, municipal court, planning, or other services within the General Fund.
To provide vital programs and services for our community, your City relies on supplemental funding such as a public safety levy, state-shared revenues, franchise fees, state and federal funding, grants, program registration fees, sponsorships, private donations, and other non-property tax resources.
All City employees understand the need to be good stewards of our precious resources, and they work every day to optimize those resources. Efficiencies continue to reduce expenditures, but that's not enough to close the gap and avoid the need for new revenues.
After an evaluation of potential revenue sources between 2018 and 2020, the Albany City Council directed staff to pursue the most viable options for providing this much-needed funding, including exploring the feasibility of a city services fee.
A city services fee is a vital funding source that helps balance the community's desire for programs and services with available financial resources. The city services fee revenue will help provide for sustainable, long-term growth of Albany. The revenue generated from this fee will go toward public safety (69%), park maintenance (20%), libraries (7%), and a contingency fund (4%), which is vital to any organization's financial stability.
The City Council enacted the city services fee on June 23, 2021, effective July 1, 2021.
