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GUIUDtRUi^ HUbUC UBRAW DO r46t^BcAiUfci« l:$ Albany County's Independent Newspaper For 121 Years ******]yoTJC£? ****** DO NOT CLIP ANYTHING from newspapers. This is defacing library property, and anyone found doing this will be held responsible for the cost of the items defaced. ********************************************** Number 36 Thursday, March 30, 2006 and Albany County Post 11 ''|l T—T— M l I II I I Boarding School Concerns about\traffic wildlife raised The Enterprise — Matt Cook Lift off: Mikey Noise,; 12, ofAltamont, gets air in a local parking lot while his friend, Andrew Durand, 14, looks on. The warm weather and a half day from school Wednesday brought the village's young people outdoors in droves. $79M budget proposal Super says he'll keep tax hike under 5% By Melissa Hale-Spencer GUILDERLAND — Based on school-board recommendations, Superintendent Gregory Aidala said Tuesday night that he will fine-tune his $79 million spend- ing proposal for next year to have a tax-rate increase of under 5 percent. He also said that he will pre- sent the board on April 11 with a \Chinese menu\ of options to choose from on controversial issues. The revenue side of Guilder- land's spending plan will become more clear after the state legisla- ture adopts its budget, due on April 1 but often late. Currently, the district is planning on the same amount of state operating aid as last year, about $8.9 mil- lion or 11.27 percent of the budget. The board passed a resolution Tuesday to hire a consultant who will look for additional state aid in the area of special education. The consultant will \see if there is some aid we might be able to recover,\ said Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders. The consultant will receive 10 percent of that aid, once it is re- covered, as payment, Sanders said. \This is a very complex area of aid,\ he said, amounting to \a little over $3 million\ and involv- ing about 700 students. Additionally, Aidala said, ad- ministrators will take a second look at property assessments, indicating updated numbers on increased property value may decrease the tax-rate hike. The current estimate is that Guilder^ land residents would pay 5.66 percent more in taxes next year, or $19.39 per $1,000 of; assessed ' value. \Concern about property taxes can't fee emphasized enough,\ Aidala told the board members Tuesday night after listening to their recommendations. To get.below 5 percent from 5;66 percent, would take \an- other $350,000 to $400,00 in swing,\ Aidala said. 1 remain cautiously optimistic we'll be able to do that,\ he con- cluded. Requests to restore Tuesday's board meeting be- gan with carefully-prepared statements from nine people, each asking the board to restore items to the 2006-07 budget pro- posal. About 50 people sat in the gallery, listening to the requests, leaving when the budget discus- sion was over. Seven parents and a high- school social worker asked that a social-wqrkefcsppgty proposed: to be cut, be restored- to next, year's (Continued on Page 23) ByJoE. Prout GUILDERLAND — A 75-lot subdivision is being proposed for 214 acres that stretch across town lines from Guilderland into New Scotland. At last Wednesday's planning- board meeting, neighbors on heavily-traveled Church Road questioned the effect the subdivi- sion would have on traffic and on the wildlife harbored on the property. Scott Lansing, of Lansing En- gineering in Malta, described the acreage on Church Road in Guilderland as stretching south to KrumkillRoad in New Scot- land. The neighborhood is.tenta- tively named the Normanskill Preserve. ' Town planner Jan Weston 4Sji|Jg|ib J ,ej»site..has two major ra- vines that feed into the Norman- skill Creek. She said that the property is on the open-space registry for the state, and that portions of it have wetlands, farmland, and steep grades. An Environmental Impact State- ment should be required for the property, she said. Weston said that 53 of the lots only have access to Krumkill Road in New Scotland; the two towns would need agreements for road maintenance, she said. The proposed infrastructure crosses municipal lines, too, she said. \This conventional layout is not realistic and\ cannot be ap- proved by the planning board,\ Weston said. Lansing also proposed a clus- tered layout with two curb cuts on Church Road. In the northern section, he proposed 22 lots for large, expensive estate homes. . Moderate- to high-priced homes on half-acre lots are planned for the western section, and lower- cost starter homes are planned for the southern section. Lansing said that only about .65 of an acre of wetlands would be af- fected with the conventional lay- out, and that none would be with the clustered layout. \We're looking for guidance from the town\ for the type of clustering that will work on the site, Lansing said. Regarding inter-municipal agreements, he said, \We feel that there can be a resolution.\ Planning board ©hairman Stephen Feeney saidKithafc,: the foremost issues with the\ pro- posal are tfit^^dipg, clearing, and stoito^^f^pH^anagement of the .site.' ^^jis^idv. Lansing to (Coriti^edlftn page 9) Inside this week'sedition starting on page.... ~w Opinion 1 Page2 j News [Pages[ Community Calendar N»iel Classifieds .|page32| Sports Page 34 n*.^,^^. M •I •* 1 ,41 1 i 51 I I 1 I _.,*i^^^£^j4t;,=.