Articles
Published articles
Mayor Carmella's tax increase is on your water bill
Mayor Carmella Mantello announced a small property tax increase. Most of her new money comes from your water and sewer bills instead, about $1.6 million more. That charge falls the same on every family, whatever their home is worth.
Mayor Carmella saves money by leaving city jobs empty
Mayor Carmella Mantello is saving money by leaving city jobs empty instead of paying enough to fill them. Her next budget has 51 jobs with no one in them. When she wanted police jobs filled, she raised the pay.
Mayor Carmella's housing crisis
Most Troy renters can't afford the apartments for rent, and empty ones already sit unrented. Mayor Carmella Mantello's answer is more new apartments, and she vetoed the law that protects renters already here.
Blocked from the mayor's page
The page titled "Mayor Carmella R. Mantello" blocks residents who criticize her. The city holds no record of which accounts speak for the Mayor's Office, and only a 2022 draft of a policy on what they post.
Troy's Flock contract never went to the City Council
A police captain signed Troy's first Flock contract in 2021 and the department signed again in 2022. The City Charter gives that power to the Mayor, the Purchasing Agent, and the Council. No Troy agenda or minutes document mentions Flock until 2026.
Party over people
In 2024 Mayor Carmella Mantello's office promised the city's pages were open to everyone, whatever their views. Since then it has called residents paranoid, the council liars, and its bills Pro-Criminal. It did so on city letterhead and under oath.
What Troy's Flock audit logs show
Troy's police department handed over its Flock audit logs after a records request. They show 26 cameras that photographed 25 million vehicles in five months. They also show 5,309 outside agencies searching the data, 12 of them federal.
"Our pages must be made available to everyone"
In April 2024 Mayor Mantello's office set a policy: Troy's city pages belong to everyone, whatever their views. Her office later called the council president a liar.
"Dead when my administration took office"
Mayor Carmella Mantello's campaign lists five first-term accomplishments in Troy, NY. The city's own archive dates all five to before she was sworn in.
One emergency every two months
Mayor Carmella Mantello of Troy, NY signed eleven emergency declarations between January 2024 and April 2026. She signed six in her first year alone.
Mayor Carmella Mantello supports Flock
Mayor Carmella Mantello spent nine minutes defending the Flock license plate cameras in Troy, NY. Thirteen days later she declared an emergency to keep paying for them.