LAKE PLACID — The state Olympic Regional Development Authority’s Board of Directors unanimously approved a budget for the authority’s next fiscal year that included an inaccurate projection for expenditures on Wednesday. The spending estimate was off by $20 million.

The authority’s 2024-25 fiscal year operating budget is just over $82 million and carries a $766,449 surplus. Combined with $80 million budgeted for capital contributions — money for maintaining and upgrading the authority’s winter sports venues — the authority’s total expenditures for the fiscal year will be about $162 million. However, the budget in the board’s meeting packet, which was approved on Wednesday, listed about $182 million in total expenditures, a $20 million typo carried over from an earlier budget draft which allotted $100 million for capital contributions.

ORDA Director of Communications Darcy Norfolk said that ORDA leadership will discuss the error on Friday. The board will need to redo its budget vote to reflect the $162 million in total expenditures it intended to approve on Wednesday.

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Operating budget

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ORDA brought in $80.1 million in revenue during the 2022-23 fiscal year, including $52.3 million from operations, $14.9 from state subsidies, $500,000 from the town of North Elba and $917,575 in “other non-operating revenues.” The authority is expected to spend around $13.2 million more in 2024-25 than this past fiscal year — the 2023-24 fiscal year, which is still in progress — but also projects to bring in $82.8 million in revenue, including $14.9 million in state subsidies and $66.4 million from things such as ski pass sales, tickets, ski and snowboard lessons, rentals, events, concessions and sponsorships.

“All of the upgrades and modernizations have helped increase our ability to make quality snow and ice surfaces,” said ORDA President and CEO Ashley Walden. “All of the improvements are certainly paying off as we’re able to provide a better product and better guest experience.”

ORDA is planning to spend more than $37.4 million on employee salaries and wages and $18.5 million on employee benefits. The authority has 597 full-time employees. It’s also planning to spend $5.7 million on supplies and $20 million on “other operating expenditures” — things like utilities, fuel, travel and marketing, according to ORDA budget documents. All of these figures are up from last year. Total operating expenditures are around $82 million.

After paying off its longstanding debt during the 2021-2022 fiscal year, ORDA remains debt-free. The authority has struggled to balance its operating budget in the past — in 2014, the state Comptroller’s Office said that ORDA relied too heavily on loans and outside contributions from other state agencies to cover cash shortages. Between April 2010 and March 2013, ORDA’s losses totaled $4.2 million in cash; $45 million including depreciation, accounts receivable and post-employment benefits due to its employees. ORDA also relied on a line of credit to cover its basic operating costs, including payroll, the audit found.

ORDA is projected to remain debt-free through 2028. The authority’s operating budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year has a $776,449 surplus attached, up from last year’s surplus of $32,501. Surplus funds remain in ORDA’s operations account.

“My predecessor, Mike Pratt, did quite a bit of work to really increase the revenue, work on getting capital improvements to the projects,” Walden said. “I do know that they had some challenges and he certainly helped to right the ship.”

ORDA projects its revenue to continue to grow through 2028. In a report to the board, Walden said that revenue from season passes was just over $12 million last year. This season has already surpassed that figure, with over $13 million in revenue form season passes to date. Similarly, more than 25,000 season passes were sold last winter and, to date, this season has already seen more than 27,000 season passes sold.

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Capital budget

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The ORDA board also voted to approve an $80 million capital budget for the new fiscal year, money that will go toward maintaining and upgrading the authority’s winter sports venues. According to the budget draft, these improvements include new or improved “lifts, snowmaking, electrical & building infrastructure, year-round operational infrastructure and economic development opportunities.”

Walden said in the meeting that the authority originally budgeted $100 million for capital contributions but was advised by the state Division of the Budget to lower that number to $80 million. Walden told the board that this reduction of capital contributions will delay upgrades to the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Lake Placid. When the amount of capital contributions was altered, the budget’s total expenditures were not adjusted accordingly, leading to the typo that rendered the approved budget inaccurate.

The capital budget is separate from the operating budget. The hundreds of millions of dollars the state has invested into upgrades to ORDA’s winter sports venues over the past few years are part of ORDA’s capital budget, not its operational budget.

The state allocated $116.5 million to ORDA during the 2023-24 fiscal year, of which ORDA spent $92.5 million on capital projects, according to ORDA’s year-to-date finance report and budget draft. The state recommended allocating less to ORDA for the 2024-25 fiscal year, proposing around $104 million in appropriations. The actual amount ORDA ultimately receives from the state may be different — the state government budget deadline is April 1, 2024.

ORDA’s budget will still not be finalized after the board approves the correct 2024-25 budget; it could change depending on the funding allocated through the state budget. ORDA’s budget will be considered final after the state’s budget is passed.