BERNE — The crowd was kind on Wednesday night when confronting the Berne Town Board about an unexpected 68-percent hike in town taxes.

“It was a real punch in the gut for me,” Joseph Giebelhaus, who was elected supervisor in November, told the 30 or so residents who had gathered for the meeting.

He and Councilwoman Melanie laCour were the only two members currently on the board who had voted for the $4.24 million budget, which came with a tax hike calculated at 38 percent.

While the tax rate per $1,000 of assessed valuation was expected at that time to go from $4.70 to $6.48; it is actually now at $7.91.

Giebelhaus said he received a phone call “out of the blue” from Michael McGuire, director at Albany County Real Property Tax Service Agency, after McGuire read the Jan. 13 Enterprise story about the unexpected tax hike.

“I was thankful he called. He walked me through the process,” said Giebelhaus.

McGuire reiterated that process for The Enterprise on Thursday. He said he received Berne’s 2026 budget on Nov. 13. On Nov. 17, he emailed the town asking, “Is this correct?”

McGuire said he had noted that the six-dollar tax rate would not cover the $1.38 million levy called for in the budget. “On Nov. 19, the town sent me a revised budget,” he said.

McGuire noted, “In both budgets — the one from the 13th and the one from the 19th — the town was still looking to collect $1.38 million. That never changed.” Rather, he said, the math that had been used to calculate the rate appeared to be inaccurate.

McGuire said that, as a courtesy, he notifies municipalities when there are discrepancies. “I was just trying to point out an issue with the rate to make sure that they were collecting what they were supposed to collect for that budget,” he said.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Giebelhaus noted that, on Oct. 22, he and laCour had voted, along with the other board members at the time — Supervisor Dennis Palow and Deputy Supervisor Thomas Doolin, who still holds that post as a non-voting member — to pierce the tax cap. All four board members then voted on Nov. 12 to adopt the budget with the tax rate of $6.48 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

“That’s where our involvement stopped,” said Giebelhaus.

“Who sent the revised budget that you and I never saw?” asked laCour.

McGuire told The Enterprise that he had corresponded with the town clerk. Kristen De Oliveira had sent him the budget on Nov. 13, he said. He then emailed her his concerns on Nov. 17 and she sent him the revised budget on Nov. 19, McGuire said.

De Oliveira told The Enterprise on Thursday, “Last night at the meeting when they’re like, ‘Well, who posted the updated budget?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, my god, it was me’ … I’m like, ‘I’m going to jail.’”

 De Oliveira explained her role to The Enterprise. “I’m really just the sender,” she said.

De Oliveira noted that she receives budget documents in PDF form, meaning that individual figures couldn’t be changed independently. “I didn’t change any of the figures,” she said.

She sent the budget to the county after the town board adopted it, De Oliveira said, following standard protocol.

When she got the email about the discrepancy from McGuire, she said, “I was just as confused as he was.” She then sent an email to the supervisor and the account clerk. “I was given the corrected front sheet,” De Oliveira said, which she sent along to McGuire.

In rounded numbers, that sheet lists the 2026 tax rate at $7.91, a 68-percent increase, and also lists the 2026 tax rate with exclusions at $6.41, a 36-percent increase. The only difference from the original document, which first raised the red flag for McGuire, is the original had just the line for the 2026 tax rate with exclusions; it did not include the added line with the full tax rate.

“That wasn’t my document to alter,” De Oliveira told The Enterprise. “I’ve been reviewing everything today … getting my ducks in a row because I know there’s a lot of upset people.”

She went on, “Really, it’s the CFO’s budget. It is essentially the same form with one line that wasn’t on the original one. So I don’t know if it was just a clerical error or if it was put that way with another intention.”

De Oliveira speculated that perhaps the intention was to separate out the quarter-of-a-million-dollar cost for the county sheriff’s office for Advanced Life Support ambulance service.

The board had approved the county contract in May with a 3-to-1 vote. LaCour cast the dissenting vote since the money hadn’t been budgeted for.

De Oliveira said on Thursday she felt “stuck in the middle” and wanted to clear her name. “I didn’t alter the document,” she said. “It’s what I was receiving.”

She concluded, “Even though it’s not my document, I still want to take pride in the work that I do or submit for the town.”

Palow, who did not seek re-election and could not be reached for comment, by law was the town’s chief financial officer as its supervisor and therefore responsible for the budget.

Under his leadership and that of his predecessor, Sean Lyons, whom Palow served as deputy supervisor, the town, with a Republican-backed board, cut taxes and drained the robust fund balance built up over decades of Democratic boards.

At the same time, the town had overdrawn its payroll account several times and let utility bills go un- and underpaid for years. After a 2021 audit report that clearly itemized the duties the Berne Town Board had neglected, the comptroller’s office found later that the Berne board had followed only one of its 11 recommendations.

Three board members simultaneously resigned in August 2024, claiming, among other things, that Palow would not share financial information with them.

The newly elected board members — Democrats Scott Duncan and Brian Bunzey and Republican Casey Miller — voted along with Giebelhaus and laCour on Jan. 14 to have the state comptroller’s office examine Berne’s 2026 budget and tax levy process to “provide findings and recommendations.”

Giebelhaus asked that a board member who had not participated in the 2026 budget process become the point person and Miller volunteered.

“The tax increase we do need …,” said Bunzey. “We are so far behind, it’s sad.”

He also said of Giebelhaus and laCour being duped, “To have the wool pulled over their eyes is disgusting.”

Duncan said that he ran for office because of the financial difficulties Berne is facing. “Cuts have to be made …,” he said. “If we don’t fix it now … it’s not going to get better next year.”

While he termed the current board “capable,” Duncan said, “Every town resident is going to feel this.”

Citizen response

After the board members had their say, Giebelhaus opened the floor to the public: “I know you’re upset,” he said. “I am too. I’m probably the most upset person in the room. It’s my job to take your slings and arrows … I’m the town supervisor.”

But no slings and arrows were forthcoming. Rather, there was a sense of shared misery and concern with some suggestions for help.

A woman, perhaps ironically, suggested having a bake sale.

“We were going down a shithole ….,” said a man. “I can’t thank you guys enough for walking into that fire.”

“Let us know how anyone in town can help,” said another woman.

A third woman said some people in town, particularly elderly residents on fixed budgets, were concerned about losing their homes if they can’t make the hiked payment.

She added, “Obviously, you all were blindsided.”

Bunzey responded that it takes up to seven years for a homeowner to lose their property. “They can pay what they can; you can work out a plan,” he said.

Resident Joel Willsey, a former councilman, suggested the county should have a policy to say, “Hey, you’ve got something wrong.”

Giebelhaus responded that he thought the November communication had taken place between the chief financial officer and the county without being shared with the rest of the board. “The emergent situation is: What do we do moving forward?”

Willsey noted that the approved budget document posted to the town’s website had been changed online. “It was definitely changed after you approved it,” he said.

Another resident said town taxes had been lowered year after year in a way they should not have been. As a rural area, he said, needed services, such as for youth and the elderly, had been cut.

“We need to take care of each other,” he said.

Tim Doherty called the new board’s openness “refreshing.”

“Thank you for trying to explain the unexplainable ….,” he said. “We’ve sat through years of rage and meanness.”