Clerk and tax receiver posts wide open

GUILDERLAND — The elected customer-service positions in Town Hall — town clerk and receiver of taxes — which had been held by Democrats, are open, without incumbents running.

The clerk is retiring and the receiver of taxes, Jean Cataldo, is running for clerk. Her former deputy receiver of taxes, Lynne Buchann, is running to take her spot, against Republican Bryan Best. Republican Jason Wright will face Cataldo in the race for town clerk.

Both posts carry four-year terms for the full-time jobs. Both will pay $55,518 annually according to the 2014 budget proposal. 

Party enrollment in Guilderland breaks down this way: 30-percent Democrat, 26-percent Republican, and 25-percent unaffiliated. The remainder are enrolled in small parties.

More Guilderland News

  • Superintendent Marie Wiles told the board members at their March 12 meeting, that, by creating a third Comprehensive Skills section next year, “The hope is spreading those students out over three sections, recognizing the wide range of age levels that are served there, [ages] 14 to 22, will give us a lot more opportunity to meet those individual needs, customize the programs for those students as they age through the program and their journey here.”

  • “I mean it’s crazy,” said Guilderland School Board President Seema Rivera. “We’re asking for things for our kids … nothing exorbitant. And then … we have to send money to Crossgates. I think it’s insane.”

  • “We need housing and you don’t, in my opinion, want people who aren’t going to live in a house to own a house and then just rent it out short-term a week at a time, a weekend at a time, a wedding at a time,” said Robert Randall at the public hearing. “The people living next to them no longer have a neighbor; they have strangers living next to them.”

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