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.

Leonard Stokes, Ph.D., CPA, Professor Emeritus, Siena College, Guilderland

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.

Mary Jo Batters, Altamont

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.