Knox’s tentative 2o23 budget features tax increases in the town’s two fire districts, while the townwide levy stays the same.

Electric bills from National Grid obtained by The Enterprise show that the town of Berne frequently underpaid for its services — while some months not paying at all — and accumulated late fees and disconnection notices throughout 2021 and up to the present.

At a lightly-attended annual meeting held at the Berne community center last week, Kenneth’s Army members defended their group against accusations of financial misdealings and disregard for the sisters of the group’s namesake — providing key evidence when it could — while non-members criticized The Enterprise for its coverage of those issues.

The Knox Conservation Advisory Council has tapped a local group of nature walkers, the Thursday Naturalists, to develop a species list for the wetland area where the town had once installed a public boardwalk that has since fallen into disrepair. The chairman of the council has said that he hopes to rehabilitate the boardwalk. 

The $3 million tentative budget hits its 2-percent tax levy limit, but that won’t apply to all residents in the town since the important increases occur within three of the town’s special districts. 

The money will be used for improvements and additions related to infrastructure.

Barbara Heinzen, of the Albany County Clean Air Coalition, maintains that the Port of Coeymans expansion plan, which was approved by the state, will have serious effects on the region’s environmental quality because, she says, Coeymans’ air quality laws are less stringent than those of the county.

RIC Energy has tentatively agreed to the Knox Town Board’s request for $30,000 annually as a payment in lieu of taxes. Construction of the company’s 5-megawatt solar farm will begin once the agreement is formalized. Meanwhile, Supervisor Russell Pokorny says he hopes another array — an 80 kilowatt array being built by the town with grant money, on Street Road — will be finished later this year. 

Rising energy costs and scheduled surcharge increases will increase the typical National Grid customer’s winter utility costs 39 percent for gas and 22 percent for electricity, according to the company’s projections. 

While the details of expanding Albany County’s pilot ACCORD program are yet unclear, officials said that every municipality in the county has agreed to hand over its 911 data for review, beginning the process of potential implementation.