LAKE PLACID — The state Olympic Regional Development Authority Board of Directors met on Thursday for a revote on the 2024-2025 fiscal year budget which, due to a “typographical error,” was previously approved with expenses projected at $20 million higher than intended.

The board approved the revised budget unanimously. ORDA’s total expenditures for the coming fiscal year are estimated at $162 million. Last week, a budget was approved with total expenditures listed at $182 million. The $20 million difference was an error caused by using figures from a previous budget draft, which listed the capital contributions at $100 million instead of the intended $80 million.

This vote was the final step needed to pass ORDA’s budget, however, ORDA’s budget will still not be finalized until the next state budget is approved. ORDA’s budget will be considered final after the state’s budget is passed.

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Budget details

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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.

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.

ORDA projects its revenue to continue to grow through 2028.

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Capital budget

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The ORDA board voted to approve an $80 million capital budget for the new fiscal year on Dec. 13, 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.”

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. ORDA CEO Ashley 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 originally-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.