Knox’s tentative 2o23 budget features tax increases in the town’s two fire districts, while the townwide levy stays the same.

Electric bills from National Grid obtained by The Enterprise show that the town of Berne frequently underpaid for its services — while some months not paying at all — and accumulated late fees and disconnection notices throughout 2021 and up to the present.

At a lightly-attended annual meeting held at the Berne community center last week, Kenneth’s Army members defended their group against accusations of financial misdealings and disregard for the sisters of the group’s namesake — providing key evidence when it could — while non-members criticized The Enterprise for its coverage of those issues.

The Knox Conservation Advisory Council has tapped a local group of nature walkers, the Thursday Naturalists, to develop a species list for the wetland area where the town had once installed a public boardwalk that has since fallen into disrepair. The chairman of the council has said that he hopes to rehabilitate the boardwalk. 

The $3 million tentative budget hits its 2-percent tax levy limit, but that won’t apply to all residents in the town since the important increases occur within three of the town’s special districts. 

Laurie Searl, Berne

On Friday, Sept. 30, the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Athletic Department will induct the 2022 Hall of Fame Class:

— Supporters: John and Natalie Drahzal;

— Team: 1988 Softball;

— Male Athletes: Rick Flagler, Giles “John” Swint, and Donald Dewey; and

When Jan Van Etten’s daughter submitted her mother’s obituary last week, she told me, “It is the end of an era and she was truly one of a kind.”

Both of these things are true.

RIC Energy has tentatively agreed to the Knox Town Board’s request for $30,000 annually as a payment in lieu of taxes. Construction of the company’s 5-megawatt solar farm will begin once the agreement is formalized. Meanwhile, Supervisor Russell Pokorny says he hopes another array — an 80 kilowatt array being built by the town with grant money, on Street Road — will be finished later this year. 

KNOX — Citizens Financial Group has contributed $20,000 to the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York to support the operation of the Patroon Land Farm.