LAKE PLACID — The Lake Placid Village Board of Trustees is proposing a $6.6 million budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

To cover the majority of its proposed $6,664,339 budget, the village board would levy — or collect — $4,157,280 in property taxes from village property owners. That’s an around 2.4% increase of $97,753 compared to $4,059,527 in taxes collected through the village’s 2022-23 budget. However, village Treasurer Mindy Goddeau said the levy increase falls within the village’s state-assigned 2% tax cap for 2023-24. When asked about the discrepancy between the village’s 2% tax cap and the 2.4% increase in taxes proposed, Goddeau said the tax levy increase was calculated by the state.

The village’s proposed budget would also use $389,859 in reserves — about $23,985 less in reserves than the previous fiscal year’s budget — to help pay for the increase in spending.

Goddeau said the main drivers for the village’s increase in spending with the proposed budget are inflation and increases in wages.

“Every single one of our unions is up for negotiations,” Goddeau said on Friday.

There are still a few question marks in the village’s proposed budget, including the cost of wages. Goddeau said that union negotiations likely won’t be complete until the village’s fiscal year starts on Aug. 1, so she had to “err on the side of caution” and add more to the budget to cover those anticipated costs.

Another uncertainty is what the village’s tax rate would be — or the percentage at which village property owners would be taxed — under the proposed budget. Tax rates are calculated using the assessed value of homes in the village, and the village’s home assessments have yet to be finalized for this year. This year’s tentative assessment rolls, which found in April that home values in the village and the town of North Elba had risen by around 18% over the previous year, were “substantially” grieved because of the sharp rise in assessments, according to Goddeau. She said she wasn’t comfortable “fathoming a guess” at where property assessments will land without having the village’s final rolls. Goddeau expects that Essex County’s assessment rolls will be finalized by Monday.

The Board of Trustees will hold a public hearing on its proposed budget at 4:45 p.m. on Monday, June 5. People can also attend the meeting in person at the North Elba Town Hall; virtually at https://meet.goto.com/556659389; or via phone by calling 872-240-3412 and entering the access code 556-659-389. The village board’s regular board meeting will follow the hearing at 5 p.m.

A complete copy of the tentative budget is available on the village website at tinyurl.com/nhhp4zby. People can also pick up a copy of the tentative budget in the village clerk’s office on the second floor of the North Elba Town Hall.