To the Editor:

Guilderland residents who live in the town Guilderland but outside the school district (utilizing Voorheesville, Mohonasen, and Schalmont schools) were hit with an unfair school-tax hike. These astounding increases range from 15 to as high as 20 percent.

This is just outrageous. I was at the Sept. 19 town board meeting as residents spoke about this surprise tax hike, and was disheartened that Supervisor [Peter] Barber was not more concerned.

I took a few things from the meeting. First, the supervisor knew back in August about these extraordinary tax hikes. He wasn’t legally responsible to notify residents of the hike so he chose not to. I wonder how he would have felt if he received a tax bill for 15 to 20 percent more than he paid the previous year.

I also learned the tax hike was so high because the town hasn’t had an assessment since 2005. In response, the state stepped in and was forced to do its own assessment. The state’s Office of Real Property Tax Services used the properties that were not a direct reflection of the affected areas and this caused these massive increases.

As a past town comptroller, I know in the past money used to be set aside for costs associated with performing assessment evaluations. In my review of recent budgets, I didn’t see money devoted to this purpose.

Clearly, the ball was dropped by the town board that has been there for more than a decade. The supervisor should have made this a budget priority when he took office to avoid a lag in the assessment process, which has now burdened these taxpayers.

I’m disgusted by the lack of transparency shown by this town board, and the lack of notification the town gave these residents who are now stuck with the bills. It may have been a flawed assessment by the state but the town is just as much to blame.

I promise that, if elected to the town board, I will bring transparency so the residents are notified of issues like these. I also will try everything in my power to help these residents fight these massive increases.

Michele Coons

Guilderland

Editor’s note: Michele Coons, an enrolled Conservative, is running for the Guilderland Town Board on the Republican line. See related story.