Albany Mayoral Candidates Debate Housing Growth and City Services

Albany’s next mayoral race is taking shape around a familiar local tension: how a growing Oregon city pays for its future without pricing out the people who already live there. In the November midterm election, voters will decide between an incumbent seeking a fourth term and two challengers offering distinctly different approaches to municipal growth, housing supply, and infrastructure upkeep, KVAL reported.

The next mayor of Albany will serve a two year term beginning January 1 of next year through December 31, 2028. For the man currently holding the office, the central argument for returning to the seat is a track record of comprehensive development.

Meet candidate for Albany Mayor — incumbent Alex Johnson II

Balancing Housing Diversity and Revenue Growth

Incumbent Mayor Alex Johnson II is asking voters for a fourth term, pointing to active construction across multiple income brackets as proof that the city’s growth strategy is working. As new residential and commercial projects break ground, they generate system development charges—fees paid by developers to help fund essential infrastructure like roads, stormwater systems, sewers, water lines, and parks.

Those development fees, however, directly add to the cost of building new units. It is a balancing act that defines the current political debate in City Hall.

Meet candidate for Albany Mayor — Josh Wark

Most mayors have been building low income and higher income homes. Well, we’re building everything. We have low income, The Veterans Housing I’m on the board for the YMCA. We just finished, we’re finishing 38 units of affordable housing for low income veterans here. Linn, Benton Housing Authority just finished another 30 units on Valor Place. So we’re doing everything. And then the middle housing piece, we’re building town homes.

Johnson said, arguing that this steady expansion will naturally increase Albany’s tax base over the next few years.

His opponents see the city’s trajectory differently. Josh Wark, a small business owner running for the seat, wants to accelerate commercial development by tapping his professional network to bring in outside businesses quickly. He argues that fast-paced commercial growth can be used to secure income-stabilized housing agreements, protecting current residents from displacement as the city expands.

Albany Mayoral Candidates Debate Housing Growth and City Services

Former city councilor Carolyn McLeod takes a more cautious view of expansion, arguing that the city needs to secure its foundational assets before adding more inventory.

“We need to make sure that we are able to maintain our roads, maintain our water supply and ensure that we have the essential services available before we expand our housing,” McLeod said.

Meet candidate for Albany Mayor — Carolyn McLeod

Funding Public Safety and the Road Ahead

Public safety remains a shared priority across all three campaigns, though the candidates differ on how to pay for it. Wark points to a lean police force that has successfully reduced crime over recent years, suggesting the city should aggressively pursue state and federal grants to fund advanced technologies, ongoing training, and secure operations. Johnson agrees that external grants are necessary, noting that the current municipal budget cannot support a sudden, large influx of new officers or detectives. McLeod’s first step, meanwhile, would be sitting down directly with police and fire personnel, the city manager, and state legislators to evaluate current funding sources and operational needs.

The friction over municipal budgets extends directly to infrastructure maintenance. Earlier this month, the Albany City Council approved a new street maintenance fee designed to help fix roughly 200 local roads. The measure exposed sharp divisions among city leadership. Johnson cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of the fee, defending it as a necessary step to keep a balanced budget on track. Wark supports the fee as a short-term stopgap measure, while McLeod stated plainly that she would have voted against it.