Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan is putting a hiring freeze and purchasing moratorium in place.
With no immediate indication that the City of Albany is going to get the $12.5 million it needs from the state to close a budget gap, Mayor Sheehan has no choice.
Making matters worse, Governor Cuomo's budget amendment proposals do not include this money for the city, as local officials had hoped.
Sheehan says the city has made its case on a number of occasions.
"We've opened our books to the state twice, they've looked at our operations, they've looked at the realistic revenue opportunities that we have, and the result is that the need for this aid is very, very clear."
Sheehan was asked if state officials still see it as a priority.
"We have been assured by the Governor's office and by the budget office that this is a priority, but that it's a process, and so, anything that we can do to help with that process, I want to do."
Without this state-approved aid, Sheehan says the city will have to make some deep cuts that would impact how the city delivers community policing and emergency services.
Sheehan has consistently said that Albany gets less in state payments than other large, upstate cities.
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