In the end, the draft budget restored 70 percent of the first-grade teaching assistants. It also restored two-tenths of a librarian’s position at Altamont Elementary School, another cut that had spurred protests from a committed Altamont contingent.

The withdrawal came as a surprise to both IDA board members and staffers as attorneys for the agency were negotiating with Pyramid over the subsidy right up until the day before IDA Chief Executive Officer Donald Csaposs received the March 20 letter informing him that Pyramid would forgo the multi-million dollar exemption.

The proposed levy increase is 2.41 percent, which is just under the state-set tax cap, meaning a simple majority will pass the budget. 

ALTAMONT — The judge presiding over the defamation suit filed by Jackie Silvestri-Edwards, former owner of Farmhouse Tap + Tavern and founder of the 518 Foodies site, on March 20 denied a defendants’ motion to dismiss the case, an indication that the court found Silvestri-Edwards’s initial claims to have a sufficient legal basis.

On March 18, Mayor Kerry Dineen, trustees John Scally and Sandra Serafino, and Justice James Greene each received new four-year terms, but most saw unforeseen opposition. 

There will be four seats open for the May 20 election with the top three vote-getters winning three-year terms and the fourth-place candidate filling out Judy Slack’s term, which ran through June 30, 2026.

Heyer had served as interim director of the Guilderland Public Library as staff suffered widely covered allegations of racism last year, lodged by the owner of a library café, that proved to be unfounded.

GUILDERLAND — An investigation following the recovery of a loaded pistol at Crossgates Mall in 2021 led to an arrest this week of a Guilderland teacher.

Supervisor Peter Barber ran through a list of recommendations based on his reading of the plan, which ranged from updating data and photographs in a number of places to some larger issues on which the public had also commented: including a distinct section on town character, conserving the pine bush, encouraging affordable housing, and preserving Altamont.

Guilderland in its letter states “that the FEAF and Draft Concept Plan are deficient and incomplete, and do not allow for a proper consideration of the significant and permanent environmental impacts that would arise from the construction of a temporary 750-space parking lot.”