GUILDERLAND — The town board on May 20 approved two tax settlements with combined refunds totalling roughly $2,715.

Property owners have the right to challenge their assessments, said Supervisor Peter Barber, “and these two entities did that. And on the advice of attorney and the assessor, they think it should be settled, and they think it’s a fair assessment.”

Barber said only a half-dozen or so tax certiorari cases remain carried over from Guilderland’s townwide revaluation six or seven years ago.

“If the board approves them,” said Barber before the two unanimous votes, “then they can’t challenge the assessment for three years.”

These are the two now-settled cases:

— Vosburgh Corner Associates, LLC for an 13-building apartment complex, including a clubhouse, at Vosburgh Road, which had an assessed value of $15.6 million. The settled-upon value is now $14.8 million, a reduction of $800,000, resulting in a tax refund of $1,689.25.

“The reaching of this settlement will avoid the cost of further litigation, appraisal fees of $3,500 up to $8,800 and accumulating tax refunds,” wrote Heather Weinhold, the town’s assessor, in a May 13 memo to the board;

— Guilderland Partners of Albany, LP for the Tractor Supply Store at 2327 Western Ave., a 19,126-square-foot building on 5.9 acres, which had an assessed value of $2.986 million. The settled-upon value is now $2.5 million, a reduction of $486,000, resulting in a tax refund of $1,026.22.

Similarly, Weinhold wrote in another May 13 memo to the board, “The reaching of this settlement will avoid the cost of further litigation, appraisal fees of at least $4,000 and accumulating tax refunds.”

Barber noted of the fees for both properties, “The school did not participate so this is something that the town would have to pay in its entirety.”

The Guilderland school district has, with costly assessment challenges, split the cost for attorney and appraisal fees with the town.

“The school has the option under state law to intervene and participate in a tax certiorari proceeding,” said Barber. “If they do so, then they bear the bulk of the expenses.”

That is because school taxes are far higher than town taxes. The school district incurred so much debt in paying back tax money since the town’s revaluation that it drained the reserves it had set aside for that purpose and took out a bond issue.

Deputy Supervisor Christine Napierski said that she had learned from talking to Assessor Weinhold, “When they do these evaluations, they don’t always get the most accurate information from the property owners because they don’t voluntarily turn it over.

“So they’re just ‘guestimating’ at what it is. And once the property owner brings the suit, then they have to turn over their actual numbers, and then they can come up with a more accurate assessment of the value.”

Barber concluded that the system “is kind of unfair.”

Other business

In other business at its May 20 meeting,the Guilderland Town board:

— Heard questions from Robyn Gray, who chairs the Guilderland Coalition for Responsible Growth, about the Altamont Village Board’s May meeting where the board agreed to pursue grants to have a water connection with Guilderland for emergencies.

“Do we have enough water to do that?” asked Gray to which Barber responded, “Yes, we do.” Because of filtration, he said, the capacity at Guilderland’s water plant has “increased by over two- to two-and-a-half-million gallons.”

Gray said residents are concerned the water will lead to an “influx of development.”

Barber said the recommended updates to Guilderland’s comprehensive land-use plan address that concern. “That could be handled through zoning,” he said of controlling development around the village.

Barber also said, “The first primary concern is how do you deliver clean potable water to a village that has no other backup;

— Scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday, June 3, at 7 p.m. at the town hall on a proposed local law to amend town code on flood damage prevention to change the local administrator.

Barber said the program allows town residents who have properties in flood zones to get flood insurance.

A review by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation said “we’re doing a fine job,” Barber reported, but “suggested that we switch the local administrator from being us, the town board, to the chief building inspector … who keeps all the flood zone maps and deals with the people”;

— Scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday, June 3, at 7:15 p.m. at the town hall on an application for an exception to the town’s building moratorium for a residential development for proposed affordable and workforce housing at 6 and 10 Mercy Care Lane.

The town board adopted the moratorium on large projects while it considers updates to the town’s comprehensive plan.

The 6 and 10 Mercy Care Lane project proposes 100-percent workforce and affordable housing, targeting households with incomes ranging from 30 percent to 80 percent of the annual area median income. In a letter to the town board, the developer states the target annual incomes of residents would be approximately $30,000 to $90,000 per year, which would help address a need for trade, logistics, hospitality, and municipal employees.

The letter also says the exemption is critical to getting competitive funding, stating, “Delays due to the moratorium could render the project financially unfeasible”;

— Heard from Barber that the planning board completed its required review of the recommendation to update Guilderland’s comprehensive plan “several months ago” and that the town planner is now updating data as requested by the planning board, which could take another four to six weeks.

“I thought it would be very quick,” said Barber, “but the planning board went page by page, and there are hundreds of changes.”

Barber said his “best guess” for when the next public hearing on the plan would be scheduled in July;

— Heard from Barber about several upcoming events:

A “tick awareness event” will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 10 at the town hall. “Ticks are almost a year-round problem now, and they’re in your backyard,” he said;

Twenty-one veterans who have banners posted at Tawasentha Park will be honored at the performing arts center stage at 10 a.m. on June 13.

On June 14, from 1 to 4 p.m., Guilderland will participate in the New York State Path Through History during which time the Schoolcraft House, on Western Avenue, and the Frederick-Mynderse House, in Guilderland Center, may be toured while the Cobbleston Schoolhouse, also in Guilderland Center, may be viewed from the outside — it won’t be open since renovation is starting;

— Heard from Barber that the American Revolution 250th Anniversary committee “is on steroids right now.”

“It’s been a lot of fun learning about our history,” he said, mentioning, among other efforts, that heritage apple varieties will be planted in town.

Also a reenactment of the Battle of the Normanskill is planned for Aug 11, 2027, which is 250 years to the day after the battle.