City Of Albany: Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan Announces City's First Use Of American Rescue Plan Funding

Press release from the City of Albany:

September 8, 2021

Contact: David Galin 

City of Albany to Provide Non-Union Employees with 3% Retroactive Wage Increase in 2021; Mayor Sheehan to Propose Additional 3% Non-Union Wage Increase in 2022 City Budget

Frontline Employees Continued to Deliver Essential City Services During Pandemic, Including Picking-Up Garbage & Recycling, Keeping Parks Clean, Ensuring Water Safe to Drink, and Responding to Emergency Calls, and City Hall Staff Worked Tirelessly to Ensure Frontline Employees Had the Resources they Needed to Fulfill their Mission

ALBANY, NY – Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan joined City Treasurer Darius Shahinfar, Common Councilmembers Alfredo Balarin, Sonia Frederick, and Joyce Love, COVID Task Force Co-Chair Mike Whalen, Operating Engineers & Building Trades President Mike Lyons, Albany Permanent Professional Firefighters Association President Rob Mengel, and scores of City employees who literally risked their lives over the past year and a half to announce the City of Albany will provide:

Under the American Rescue Plan Act, Premium Pay is designed to target workers who “faced heightened risks due to the character of their work.” U.S. Treasury guidelines define essential work as “involving regular in-person interactions or regular physical handling of items that were also handled by others.” Premium pay is an hourly stipend for eligible work, in addition to the wages these workers otherwise receive, and is designed to prioritize pay for lower income workers. The average payment to union employees will be approximately $3,700. Nearly three-quarters of all unionized City employees will receive between $3,000 and $5,000. Premium Pay to the City’s unionized workforce will cost approximately $3 million (3.76% of total stimulus funds received).

Most of the City’s non-union workforce was not eligible for Premium Pay. As a result, Mayor Sheehan also announced a 3% across-the-board wage increase for those non-union employees, retroactive to January 1, 2021. The City will also provide an additional $1,000 stipend to those non-union employees who participated in the Ambassador Program and put themselves in harm’s way to ensure City Hall was open to City residents. Additionally, Mayor Sheehan announced her first 2022 City Budget proposal: an additional 3% across-the-board raise for all non-union City employees. 

The City of Albany did not provide an across-the-board wage increase in the 2021 City Budget due to the fiscal uncertainty and lack of clarity as to whether the American Rescue Plan would be passed. Over the past 13 years, the City’s non-union workforce have only received five across-the-board raises, of which those raises were only 1% or 2%. Nearly 50% of the City’s non-union workforce earns less than $50,000 per year. The initial 3% across-the-board wage increase will cost the City approximately $650,000.

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said, “Over the past year and a half, this workforce has risen to the challenges put before us. When our nation shut down, you quickly pivoted to ensure we continued to deliver essential services. DGS crews continued to pick up trash and recycling. AFD and APD continued to respond to emergency calls. We continued to provide safe drinking water, we continued to ensure children had safe and engaging activities, and we continued to cite building code violators and ensure development could continue. And our City Hall staff worked tirelessly to ensure our frontline employees had the resources they needed to fulfill their mission. Our workforce literally risked their lives for our community, and I am so deeply grateful and proud of each of them.

“Today’s announcement would not have been possible without the passage of the American Rescue Plan and the leadership of President Joe Biden, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Congressman Paul Tonko, as well as the support of City Treasurer Darius Shahinfar, Chief City Auditor Dr. Dorcey Applyrs, Common Council President Corey Ellis, Common Council President Pro Tempore Kelly Kimbrough, and Common Council Majority Leader Ginnie Farrell, and I thank them each for their continued support of our city workforce.”

This press release was produced by the City of Albany. The views expressed here are the author’s own.