The towns of Westerlo and Rensselaerville, and the village of Voorheesville, are all working to pull public grant money that will allow them to improve the safety and efficacy of their water districts. 

The United States Post Office is in the process of creating new sorting and delivery centers, where mail will be collected from local post offices for processing. However, a memorandum of understanding with the postal workers’ union says this form of consolidation will not lead to the closure of offices, nor a reduction in workers or services. 

Guilderland, with rates locked in till the end of the year, is currently paying 5.6 cents per kilowatt hour. The current rate is about twice that.

Streaming government meetings online is a relatively cheap and easy way to boost civic engagement within a municipality, even if residents aren’t able to participate in those meetings remotely. 

“This is by no means … our budget,” Altamont Mayor Kerry Dineen said during a recent budget workshop. “This is a very preliminary draft.”

Guilderland Superintendent of Schools Marie Wiles noted that the two-year anniversary of the county’s first COVID-19 case — from Farnsworth Middle School — is upon us. It’s been “a rollercoaster for the last two years,” she said and echoed “the power of partnership” in getting through it.

Discussions began last year among the Westerlo Town Board members about how to clean up a body of local laws that can at times be contradictory and confusing to residents and town officials alike. The town now has an agency in mind to help make those necessary clarifications.

Guilderland, once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, plans to go back to its former procedure of meeting in person and broadcasting the meetings.

“I think just because you wear a uniform that you are no more deserving of pandemic pay than people who work, like in Darci’s office,” said Supervisor Peter Barber.

Although the Hilltowns, like virtually all municipalities in the United States, received a substantial amount of money from the federal government’s COVID-19 relief program, the budgets for Knox, Westerlo, and Rensselaerville for 2022 are largely similar to those made in less eventful years.