RENSSELAERVILLE — As it was in 2019, so it is again in 2021: Rensselaerville’s election was comp

Several positions were open for election in Westerlo this year, but only the town justice seat was contested — and now the race is too close to call. Democratic incumbent Ken Mackey is ahead of Republican Stuart Elderd by two votes with absentee ballots yet to be counted. 

Knox Democrat Russell Pokorny has a lead of 27 votes in the race for supervisor over his Republican-backed opponent, Kregg Grippo, in the unofficial election results, which don’t count absentee ballots. Those same results suggest that the Republican incumbents up for election are staying put.

Unofficial election results show that the Berne Republicans swept away their Democratic competition in all contested races, and the absentee ballots are likely to boost their advantage, thanks to Highway Superintendent and county GOP chairman Randy Bashwinger’s solicitation of many of those ballots.

RENSSELAERVILLE — As it was in 2019, so it is again in 2021: Rensselaerville’s election was comp

The preliminary budget, crafted by Berne’s Republican supervisor, Sean Lyons, promises an 88-percent property tax decrease while increasing spending as Lyons spends down the town’s reserve funds and uses pandemic relief money — which Democrats say is a dangerous move, if not illegal. 

Rensselaerville resident Sarah Solomon’s Delaware Turnpike general store was approved last month for a special-use permit, and now Solomon says she will spend the next six months or so “securing licenses, acquiring equipment and appliances, building out the space, and ordering inventory.”

Deputy Supervisor Jason Rauf, who The Enterprise covered in a separate profile, is running for highway superintendent, uncontested.

The Westerlo Democratic and Republican parties each put up nearly  identical slates of candidates this year, with the only contest existing between Town Justice Ken Mackey, a Democrat seeking re-election, and Stuart Elderd, a Republican and former corrections officer who said he wants to get more involved in the town. 

Knox Clerk Traci Schanz is seeking re-election on the Republican line, with opposition from former clerk Deborah Liddle, on the Democratic line.