KNOX — Knox has no library of its own so town residents primarily use the libraries in Berne and Altamont. The leaders of those libraries last week presented the Knox Town Board with data showing that the town does not contribute money to the libraries to match the use of Knox residents.

“Libraries give people equal access to knowledge and opportunity,” said Judy Petrosillo the manager of the Berne Town Library.

Both the Berne and Altamont libraries are among 29 in Albany and Rensselaer counties that share resources as part of the Upper Hudson Library System.

The system has three different kinds of libraries:

— Public libraries, like those in Voorheesville and Guilderland, that follow school district boundaries, have elected trustees, and have the ability to levy taxes;

— Municipal public libraries, like those in Berne and Westerlo, that are controlled by the town, which funds them, and have appointed board members who must be town residents; and

— Association libraries, like those in Altamont and Rensselaerville, run by not-for-profit corporations working for public benefit; anyone who belongs to the association may be a trustee. As with the municipal libraries, trustees are not elected and do not have the power to levy taxes.

Joe Burke, director of the Altamont Free Library, noted that he is currently looking for a trustee from Knox.

In recent years, both of the libraries have new, larger homes. Altamont’s is in a restored train station, and Berne’s is in a former Catholic church. “We’ve doubled our visitation,” said Petrosillo, since the library moved from a cramped space in the Berne Town Hall.

She also noted how little of library funds come from state or federal sources. “Ninety-eight percent of our budget comes from you,” Petrosillo said.

The pair displayed a map of Albany County that delineated the jurisdictions of the different libraries; the sections in red showed areas where residents do not pay direct taxes for a library. The only red section that covered the majority of a town was in Knox.

Burke said, at the Altamont library, which is open 58 hours each week, one out of every 10 items, went to a Knox resident. Altamont’s library has an annual budget of $150,000: $50,000 comes from the village of Altamont and $36,000 from the town of Guilderland; another $40,000 comes from fundraisers. Five percent of the library’s income is from the town of Knox.

In Berne, 16 percent of the items lent by the library were borrowed by Knox residents. The Berne library is open just 28 hours a week because of a lack of funds, said Petrosillo. It has an annual budget of $47,813: $39,213 comes from Berne and $3,500 comes from Knox. So, Knox contributes 7 percent of the library’s budget while Knox residents use 16 percent of the items.

“Going forward, we may ask for more money to cover the gap,” said Burke.

The library leaders calculated that with a $50,000 contribution from Altamont, a village of 1,725 people, the per capita support for library services in Altamont is $28.98. The per capita support for Berne — which contributes $39,213 and has 2,794 residents, is $14.03; and the per capita support for Knox — which contributes $10,900 and has 2,692 people — is $4.05.

Together, the Altamont and Berne libraries have 2,318 patrons, which includes 401 Knox residents — 18 percent of the libraries’ total patrons.

Burke said, “We pay five cents to the Upper Hudson Library System for every item we circulate…We’re not looking for Voorheesville levels or even Guilderland levels of support.”

Voorheesville residents pay over $150 per capita and Guilderland residents pay $100.

Burke concluded that libraries are “free of charge to everyone who walks in the door…We honor and respect every member of the community.”

“We need financial support in order to keep giving,” said Petrosillo.

The pair said they’d return in August or September before the town drafts its budget.

Town to buy new mower

After much discussion over the course of a four-hour meeting, the board agreed to purchase a tractor for mowing, with funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for  $104,527 — the one bid received.

“What if we don’t get the money?” asked Councilman Earl Barcomb.

“We’re screwed,” replied Lefkaditis.

“The money is in an account somewhere electronically. We have to pay for it to get our money back,” said the town’s attorney, John Dorfman.

The board decided to pay with a bond anticipation note rather than with cash. “Cash is king,” said Lefkaditis.

When Tropical Storm Irene caused damage to Line Road in 2011, the Federal Emergency Management Agency estimated it would cost $676,000 to fix it. Highway Superintendent Gary Salisbury and the town board at the time decided Line Road could be fixed by town highway workers for less, so Knox was to get 90 percent of the FEMA money, roughly $609,000, for other uses: 75 percent from the federal government and 25 percent from the state.

Salisbury told The Enterprise last November, “That allows us to buy equipment we wouldn’t get any other way.” Salisbury listed a backhoe, an excavator, a trailer, a roller, and a tractor mower.

 “We have to spend ‘X’ amount of dollars on five pieces,” said Salisbury at the March 8 board meeting. He said of FEMA, “It has to go for equipment. We had one option left, or we’d get nothing….They told us, ‘We won’t hold you to these five pieces.’ Now, they’re holding us to that.

“We need this no matter what,” said Salisbury. The town has already sold its old mower. “We have to move or we lose,” Salisbury said.

The board ultimately voted, 3 to 1, to proceed with purchasing the tractor mower on a bond anticipation note with an interest rate not to exceed 3 percent.

Barcomb, with a smile, cast the sole dissenting vote, stating, “My mom hates that mower.” Deputy supervisor Amy Pokorny was absent.

Other business

In other business, the town board:

— Heard from Dawn Gibson, vice president, and Claire Ansbro-Ingalls of Kenneth’s Army that a motorcycle rally is planned for June 4 in honor of Kenneth White, a 5-year-old kindergartner at Berne-Knox-Westerlo who was murdered in his Knox home by his cousin, Tiffany Van Alstyne, in December 2014. Last year, the inaugural rally attracted 197 bikers and 300 attendees, and raised $5,000, Ansbro-Ingalls said. Registration on June 4 will start at 9 a.m. at Thacher Park and a chicken barbecue will conclude the day.

Kenneth’s Army was founded, she said, “so students in the Hilltowns don’t fall through the cracks.” The group, she said, bought a headstone for Kenneth White’s grave, planted a memorial garden in Knox’s town park, held a birthday party in his honor, and has set up a scholarship in his name for a graduate who is interested in social services.

After Van Alstyne was sentenced to 18 years to life, Albany County District Attorney David Soares excoriated Kenneth’s Army, saying that, if people want to do some good, they should form an army to fight for the children in their own areas who may be living, like Kenneth was, under conditions of poverty and abuse, “making sure that people are eating every day, making sure that people have coats.” That, he said, “is how you can prevent things like this from happening”;

— Heard a request from Laura Pasquini, assistant manager of the Regional Food Bank Patroon Land Farm to have a fall festival in the Knox town park in September, featuring vendors with local produce and goods.

“The Berne and Knox youth councils may want to piggyback onto the festival,” said Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis. “If she comes up with two vendors, it’s dead. If she comes up with 20 or 30, it’s a different ball game”:

— Heard from Lefkadits that the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs is donating free smoke detectors to seniors. Those who are interested in getting a smoke detector may call 861-8960;

— Appointed Kathleen Miller Putzig as the Knox town historian. Councilman Dennis Barber, president of the Knox Historical Society, introduced Putzig and noted, “Only six short years till our bicentennial.”

“We’re going to go big,” said Lefkaditis; and

— Agreed to fund, for about $635, a trip for Diane Champion, the town’s tax collector, to attend a seminar for tax collectors held June 12 to 15 in Lake Placid. “It’s a good way to keep up,” said Champion. She said of what she learns at the annual seminars, “I try to bring it back to the town to apply it.”

Robert Price, chairman of the Knox Planning Board, noted that the seven members of that board will attend training sessions under the auspices of the Capital Region District Planning Commission on March 31 at Hudson Valley Community College to get required points. “We’ll try to go in one car,” said Price.