The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance told The Enterprise this week that it leaves the definition of “active” membership for volunteer fire and ambulance groups up to localities passing property-tax exemption laws for those groups, meaning that members in supportive or honorary roles can still theoretically be eligible.

Financial data from the Carey Institute’s 2020 tax returns were recently published by ProPublica’s NonProfit Explorer, raising questions for both skeptics of the organization, who have been critical of the way the not-for-profit navigated its potential sale during the turbulent days of the early pandemic, and for The Enterprise, which has covered the organization from its earliest days.

Westerlo is the third Hilltown tax authority — after Knox and the Berne-Knox-Westerlo school district — to pass the exemption.

The Berne Democratic Committee has opted not to carry petitions that would support Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple in his bid for re-election, in protest of his silence following a Feb. 20 incident where sheriff’s deputies ejected Berne resident Kevin Crosier from a public hearing on the unjustified orders of the town’s supervisor, who admitted the removal was based on a personal grudge. 

Margaret Christman, Jean Guarino, Berne

Maryellen Gillis, President Helderberg Family and Community Organization

The Berne-Knox-Westerlo School District is the second — and the largest — Hilltown tax authority to pass the 10-percent property tax exemption for volunteer firefighters and EMS members. 

BERNE — Despite the pandemic, the word of God reached rural church-goers because of the work of Eagle Scout Derek Zieske.
Zieske installed computer and camera systems at the First Reformed Church of Berne, which allows the church to easily broadcast services online.

Berne-Knox-Westerlo Superintendent Timothy Mundell made the proposal after correcting the district’s tax cap calculation, which had originally been 2.5 percent but now sits at 4.1 percent. He also prompted the board of education to consider upcoming changes to the Foundation Aid formula that will either level out aid to the school, or diminish it, depending on lawmakers’ decisions. 

Richard W. Umholtz, Westerlo