Former Saranac Lake Central School District Clerk Fred Finn, left, and School Business Executive Cindy Moody count write-in ballots from the 2022 school board election and budget vote. Moody said the budget voters will vote this year on May 16 is at the state’s tax cap. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — On Wednesday, the Saranac Lake Central School District will hold a public hearing on the 2023-24 budget, which proposes an increase in spending, staying below the state’s tax cap, and includes the last of the federal dollars the district received during the coronavirus pandemic.

The proposed budget goes before voters on May 16. The ballot includes three propositions, and three incumbent school board members are running unopposed for new terms.

School Business Executive Cindy Moody said this is basically a “rollover” budget from the current year, as it has been in recent years.

The budget proposes spending exactly $36 million, a 4.05% increase from the current year.

The $23,650,279 tax levy — the amount of revenue to be raised from taxpayers — sits right at the state cap maximum. Moody said this counts as being “under” the cap — which was set by the state as a tax increase of 1.66%.

Moody said this is “not much” compared to last year’s 2.44% allowable increase, so the budget proposes dipping into the district reserves more than normal — taking $2,373,989 from the fund balance, $793,117 more than the current year.

As of June 2022, when the district wrapped up its last audit, Moody said they had $4,933,034 in reserves. This leaves a “healthy” amount in the reserves because of the grant money, she added.

Moody said the tax rate is different in each of the district’s seven towns, which have different equalization rates. She said the proposed budget would carry an average tax rate of $9.04 per $1,000 of assessed value on a property. This is compared to the current year’s rate of $8.89 per $1,000 of assessed value.

For someone who owns a $200,000 home in the district, on average, they would pay $1,808 in taxes next year.

Over three-quarters of the budget — $27.7 million of it — is for salaries.

Moody said the district is still negotiating teacher salaries with the Saranac Lake Teachers Association union, so this largest portion of the budget is still an estimate. If the salaries are negotiated at a price higher than expected, Moody said they have contingencies in the budget.

The district also has one more year of federal coronavirus relief funds through the American Rescue Plan, so if something happens, they can shift those funds forward to cover certain positions. She said they’ve been doing that this year as well.

Moody said SLCSD has $1,478,653 left in these funds to spend this year.

The district has a couple of retirements this year, and administrators plan on refilling those positions. When the budget comes around next year, Moody said it will be a challenge without the federal coronavirus aid grants and that cuts will be possible.

“That one we’re going to have to sharpen our pencils on,” Moody said.

In January, the school board voted to expand free school lunches to more students through a test-run program costing $75,000 through the rest of this school year.

This was a test run with one-time use federal funds. The board could choose to continue the program by adding it to the budget next year if it thinks it was worth it.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Thursday that the state’s tentative budget should include $134 million in funding for school meals. It is unclear at this time if SLCSD will qualify to be part of this new state program.

Hochul’s executive budget proposal did not include funding for school meals, but the state Senate and Assembly’s did. This budget deal includes a good portion of the money advocates have been lobbying for in recent months.

The state agreed on a budget deal on Thursday night, well over three weeks past its April 1 deadline, so Moody said there were no legislative state aid runs available for her to view yet on Friday. Her budget projects the district getting $9.68 million in state aid, $228,395 more than the current year.

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Propositions

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The May 16 ballot carries three propositions.

Proposition 1 authorizes the board of education to purchase three buses, one suburban or similar vehicle and one van or similar vehicle. The cost of these combined vehicles could not be higher than $552,000 and up to $552,000 would be taken from the district’s unassigned fund balance to pay for the vehicles.

Proposition 2 would allow the district to receive up to an additional 10% in building aid on a debt neutral energy performance contract with the goal of improving energy efficiency at facilities the district owns. The audit would not be able to cost more than $2.5 million.

Moody said this would not require more money from taxpayers — “the local share of the EPC is offset in energy saving costs,” according to the proposition — but in order to apply for this state aid, she said districts need voter approval.

“Proposition 2 has nothing to do with increasing taxes,” she said.

It would be part of a larger ongoing efficiency capital project. Moody said the costs of everything have gone up so much, they can’t afford to fund everything they initially wanted and have whittled down some. This extra state aid would allow them to not need to whittle down. She said the district wants to replace boilers at Bloomingdale Elementary and windows around the district.

SLCSD Board of Education member Tori Thurston said she is excited for this audit, adding that it would improve the district’s carbon footprint and save them money. Auditors would look for where they are losing efficiency — losing heat, using electricity they don’t need to and “everything in between.”

Thurston said the district could do this itself, but by putting it to the public, they can get 10% more back from the state.

Proposition 3 would authorize the school board to levy $409,506 in taxes to pay to the trustees of the Saranac Lake Free Library for general operating funds. This is a 15% increase from last year.

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Candidates

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Three Saranac Lake Central School District board members are running for reelection unopposed on the ballot. Joseph Henderson, Tori Thurston and Michael Martin will appear on the ballot in this order.

They are running for one one-year term and two three-year terms. The candidate with the least votes will get the one-year term.

An article on the three candidates titled “Three incumbents unopposed in Saranac Lake school election” ran in the Enterprise on April 21 and can be read at https://bit.ly/3Hmevd1.

The budget hearing will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The meeting will be livestreamed on the district’s YouTube page at https://bit.ly/3na2RLx. Virtual attendees will not be able to speak.

Moody said she will upload more financial documents to the district’s budget webpage soon at https://bit.ly/3AC8pBt.

Voting takes place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on May 16.