County Legislature, October 13: road salt, a tax foreclosure auction, and a December hearing on farmland in our ag district

The Rensselaer County Legislature met Tuesday, October 13 in East Greenbush. Vote tallies had not been reported as of October 15; the items below are from the meeting packet, which lists each resolution as filed for adoption.

Road salt. Resolution G/381/26 authorizes $750,000 for crushed rock salt from Apalachee LLC of Rochester under state contract, at $100 a ton plus a fuel adjustment, for September 9, 2026 through August 31, 2027. County roads in Schaghticoke are salted from that supply; the town highway department buys its own, and the Town Board on October 14 approved $51,000 from its highway reserve for the town’s salt.
Tax foreclosure auction. G/385/26 lets the Chief Fiscal Officer sell the parcels on the county’s 2025 foreclosure list at public auction, set minimum bids, and have the County Executive sign the deeds. The parcel list is annexed to the resolution but not in the packet, and no auction date is set. Past county auctions have run online through Collar City Auctions.
Sewer rent timing. Local Law T-5, introduced October 13, moves the Legislature’s deadline for acting on the county sewer district’s rent schedule and appeals from October 1 to December 15 each year “to be consistent with the County Budget Schedule.” The adoption vote is expected November 10. The rent increase itself is a separate matter; see our story on the new rates.
Agricultural District 2. One request came in during the annual 30-day inclusion window: two Orsini parcels, tax map 126.-4-7.12 (2.72 acres) and 126.-4-7.111 (59.81 acres). District 2 covers Schaghticoke, Pittstown, Brunswick, Poestenkill, Sand Lake, East Greenbush and North Greenbush. Public hearing Tuesday, December 8 at 5:30 p.m. in the legislative chambers, 99 Troy Road, East Greenbush.
Also on the agenda: a $150,000 septic replacement grant (our separate story); a state childhood lead poisoning prevention grant for the Health Department, distinct from the federal lead paint grant we covered earlier; a traffic safety grant for the Sheriff’s Office; $42,484 in state money for prepaid postage on mail ballots; a one-year extension of the ValleyCats’ agreement for Bruno Stadium; a correction to one Brunswick school tax bill; and a resolution naming October 4 through 10 Cornell Cooperative Extension and 4-H Week, which credits the Extension’s role in the Schaghticoke Fair.

Not on the agenda: the 2027 county budget. County Executive Steve McLaughlin released last year’s proposal on October 20, so expect this one the week of October 19. The 2026 budget was about $446 million with a tax rate of $3.23 per $1,000 of assessed value, a cut of about 9 percent from the year before. Nothing on the kratom ban’s effective date or the 287(g) lawsuits came up.

The next regular meeting is Tuesday, November 10 at 6 p.m., with the monthly public forum Wednesday, November 4 at 6 p.m.

Sources: the Rensselaer County Legislature’s October 13, 2026 meeting packet and its November calendar (rensselaercounty.org); the Times Union’s coverage of the 2026 county budget adoption; our summary of the October 14 Town Board meeting for the town’s salt purchase.