The town had previously said it legally wouldn’t be able to sell the property to Albany County. The hearing was scheduled after The Enterprise reported that there would be no legal barrier to the sale.

In addition to the potential loss of more than half-a-million in state aid under the governor’s proposed executive budget, Berne-Knox-Westerlo has been designated a moderately-stressed district by the state comptroller, due to diminished reserve funds.  

Although Albany County has not increased its tax levy in three years, some property owners were surprised to find that their county tax rate showed an increase on this year’s property tax bills. 

The town of Berne, which recently raised property taxes over 700 percent after using up the majority of its fund balance, is late on two bills that were due to the software company Tyler Tech on Dec. 31. Berne had already been discovered as letting National Grid bills go unpaid over nearly a two-year period.

Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club President Tristan Lowery, who gave a presentation to Knox’s Conservation Advisory Council last year, told The Enterprise that the Knox wetlands is “quickly becoming a favorite destination for birders in the Capital Region,” with 125 species recorded there so far, and more expected.

The 20-acre project, which would be sited on a roughly 46-acre property at 57 Canaday Hill Road, would be Berne’s first commercial solar facility.

The former Highlands Restaurant property in Knox is in “rough shape,” according to a former employee. She expects that any buyer will have to invest a lot to make it habitable again. 

The Westerlo Town Board voted unanimously to establish a $1.2 million capital reserve fund, which will be spent on various improvements in the town over the next four years according to a spending plan that has yet to be adopted.

The liaison system will allow the Rensselaerville Town Board to be more aware of what the town’s various boards and committees are working on and what their needs are, taking some of the burden off of the town supervisor.

Berne’s former deputy supervisor, Anita Clayton, alleged at a town board meeting in December shortly before she left office that the town cannot sell the property for less than it’s worth. The spokeswoman for Albany County said this is not the case, and that the town has been ignoring county correspondence for weeks.