In a bi-weekly payroll cycle, there are only ever 26 pay dates, correct?
You mean 26 pay dates per year, right?

Then no, because a year is 365 days long and a 26 biweeks are $26 \cdot 14 = 364$ days long. Therefore any year that starts with a Friday (which is usually a pay date) should have 27 pay dates. However if Jan 1 is a holiday (depends on where you live), the paydate is probably moved to Dec 31 so the preceding year would have 27 pay dates.