SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Central School District’s $34.6 million proposed budget will be presented to district taxpayers at a public hearing on Wednesday. The budget meets the state tax levy cap exactly, includes few changes and will be voted on by district voters on May 17.

The $34.6 million budget includes a 2.67%, or $900,000, spending increase from the current budget.

SLCSD Business Executive Cindy Moody called the budget a “rollover budget from last year.” Most of the spending increases are because of contractual salaries and benefits raises, she pointed out. Salaries and benefits make up around three-quarters of the total budget.

“Changes in personnel will be minimal,” Moody wrote in an email. “We have a few people retiring at the end of June, and the district plans to hire new employees to replace them.”

The district proposes to levy $23,264,920 in taxes from district residents to pay for the budget. This is a 2.44% increase from the current budget and is the maximum amount the state allows SLCSD to raise the tax levy without the district needing to have the public authorize a cap override.

Moody said her calculation of the tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value will be presented at Wednesday’s hearing.

The district is getting $9,454,738 in state aid this year.

Moody said the state aid New York set aside for schools in its budget was lower than had been in the proposed legislative budget, which “never happens.” It is usually higher. But this year, it was $21,678 lower than SLCSD had budgeted for. The district had to take an additional $21,678 from its reserves to make up for that loss in expected revenue.

Moody said she didn’t know why the school state aid got reduced in the budget process.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it go that low,” school board member Mark Farmer said.

The district plans to take $1,580,872 in total from its reserves to keep the budget at the tax cap. That’s $264,721 more than the district used this year.

Moody said the district’s unrestricted fund balance reserves for the upcoming year is estimated at $5.6 million, or 16.36% of the total budget. Its restricted fund balance, the district’s reserves, is estimated to be $4.7 million. Moody said these are healthy fund balances, and much higher than they were a decade ago.

Moody said it was not too hard putting together the budget this year because the district is still using some of its federal coronavirus aid money and has sizeable reserves.

The state comptroller gave SLCSD a fiscal stress score of zero this year. This means the district is prepared for any financial hardships it may encounter.

School board member Zachary Randolph said a score of zero is typically not good news at a school, but in this situation, it’s “incredible news.”

A public hearing on the budget will be held on May 4 at 5 p.m. This hearing will be streamed on the “Saranac Lake School District” Youtube channel and a slide show will be on the district website.

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Candidates on ballot

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There are four candidates for three open school board seats — Zachary Randolph, Mark Farmer, Tori Thurston and Paul Herrmann.

Randolph and Farmer are incumbent candidates running to keep their seats on the board. Thurston and Herrmann had initially both put their names in the running for an open seat currently held by Clyde Baker when the seat opened up in January after a board member resigned. At the time, the board chose Baker to fill out the rest of this seat’s term because he only wanted it temporarily.

The three open seats all have different lengths — two three-year terms and one one-year term are up for grabs. The terms also have different start and end dates.

One three-year seat is for a term starting May 17 and expiring June 30, 2025. The other three-year seat is for a term starting July 1 and expiring June 30, 2025. The one-year seat is for a term starting May 17 and expiring June 30, 2023.

The candidate with the most votes will get the first seat because it has the longest term. Second in line will get the other, slightly shorter three-year seat. The third-highest vote-earner will get the one-year seat, because it is the shortest available term.

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Propositions on ballot

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There will be two propositions on the ballot for voters to vote on.

Proposition One would allow SLCSD to purchase three school buses. The total cost of all three buses would not be more than $395,000. The money for these buses would come from the district’s unassigned fund balance.

Moody said the district also hopes to hire additional bus drivers, if possible.

Proposition Two would allow the SLCSD Board of Education to levy $356,092 in taxes from district residents and use that money to supplement the Saranac Lake Free Library’s budget.

The vote on the budget and elections to the school board will be held on May 17 in the high school auditorium — enter through door #5 — between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The board adopted this budget on April 6.