Local Government Specialist

Department: Corporate/Administrative

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Albany, NY

Compensation: $85,000 - $100,000 / year

Description

Responsibilities

• Analyze municipal budgets, audited financial statements, tax levies, fund balances, debt schedules, revenues, expenditures, and staffing costs.
• Develop financial models that evaluate the fiscal impacts of municipal reorganizations, shared services, consolidations, organizational restructuring, and operational improvements.
• Support consulting engagements involving village dissolution, town-village consolidation, service delivery optimization, organizational management studies, and strategic planning initiatives.
• Assist in preparing village dissolution studies, joint consolidation agreements, interim studies, shared service studies, departmental organizational assessments, and implementation strategies.
• Interpret and analyze municipal budgets, audited financial statements, payroll schedules, staffing plans, collective bargaining information, service contracts, fee schedules, and operational records.
• Evaluate municipal operations, staffing structures, workflows, governance models, and service delivery practices to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Evaluate municipal operations, identify practical recommendations, and translate technical analysis into plain-language public information.
• Research New York State local government laws, municipal structures, shared service opportunities, and funding programs relevant to client projects.
• Prepare technical reports, executive summaries, presentations, fiscal analyses, and public-facing materials that communicate complex information in a clear and understandable way.
• Conduct interviews with elected officials, municipal administrators, department heads, employees, and community stakeholders to gather operational and financial information.
• Participate in client meetings, public workshops, steering committee meetings, and board presentations.
• Coordinate project documentation, data requests, meeting notes, and quality control throughout the project lifecycle.
• Support proposal development, project scoping, and business development initiatives for municipal consulting opportunities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Public Administration, Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, Public Policy, Planning, Political Science, or a related field.
• Two or more years of professional experience in municipal finance, local government, public administration, budgeting, public policy, consulting, or a related field.
• Excellent writing skills, including the ability to prepare polished reports, summaries, tables, and presentations for elected officials and the public.
• Knowledge of municipal budgeting, public finance, fund accounting concepts, tax levies, fund balances, debt, revenues, expenditures, and fiscal forecasting.
• Knowledge of New York State local government structures, including cities, towns, villages, counties, special districts, boards, departments, and intermunicipal service arrangements.
• Ability to interpret and analyze municipal budgets, audited financial statements, payroll schedules, staffing plans, collective bargaining information, service contracts, fee schedules, and operational records.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel with experience developing financial models and analyzing complex datasets.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple projects while maintaining exceptional attention to detail.
• Comfortable working collaboratively with elected officials, municipal staff, consultants, and community stakeholders.

• Master's degree in Public Administration (MPA), Public Policy, Finance, Economics, Planning, or a related field.
• Experience working with New York State municipalities or other local government organizations.
• Experience with municipal reorganizations, shared services, operational assessments, or strategic planning initiatives.
• Knowledge of New York State municipal laws, intermunicipal cooperation, or special district planning.
• Experience preparing fiscal impact analyses, public reports, board presentations, or grant-funded project documentation.
• GIS, data visualization, or financial modeling experience is a plus.

Benefits