TUPPER LAKE — The Tupper Lake Central School District Board of Education’s first vote to adopt its proposed $21.9 budget failed Monday morning.

Only three of five board members attended, so all three members would have needed to vote in favor of adopting the budget for it to pass with a majority vote. Board member Korey Kenniston voted against adopting the budget. Board members Sabrina Shipman and Mary Ellen Chamberlain voted for the budget.

Only two members of the board attended their last meeting on April 15, not enough to form the quorum needed to take a vote.

The proposed budget would lower spending from the current year and increase the tax levy — or the amount of taxes collected from taxpayers — by 8.75%. It would remain below the state-imposed tax cap.

This budget proposal comes as major layoffs and position eliminations are planned in the district, primarily a result of pandemic-era aid running out, increased costs and a dwindling unassigned fund balance.

After Monday’s failed vote, TLCSD Superintendent Russ Bartlett said the board will need to set another date to take another vote — hopefully with the full board, he added. This will potentially take place on Thursday, Bartlett said. If they can’t adopt a budget by the vote on May 21, Bartlett said they will revert to a contingency budget, which would slash expenses $800,000 lower than what the current proposed budget calls for.

Board members have been on vacation, so it’s been hard to get them all together, Bartlett said.

After the board of education votes to adopt a budget, whether or not the budget is approved will be up to the taxpayers, who will vote on the budget on May 21.

If voters do not pass this budget then, the district could schedule a re-vote in June. Or it could revert to a contingency budget. A contingency budget has a tax levy that can not be any higher than it is the current year. Bartlett said this would result in another $800,000 in cuts, an 8.75% drop in revenue for the district. That would likely mean more positions cut and more people losing their jobs, he said.

Bartlett said TLCSD spent its pandemic aid on improving education for students through maintaining staffing through the pandemic.

Approximately 12% of roughly 165 district staff are being cut next year. More information on the cuts can be found in previous parts of this series at tinyurl.com/5suczmme and tinyurl.com/2x8vvxkr.

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The budget

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The $21,918,837 million proposed budget for 2024-25 would reduce spending by $464,944, or 2.08%. Because of decreased revenue, the tax levy would rise. This budget carries a $10,383,450 levy, an 8.75% increase from the current year, $835,450 higher than last year but $41,153 below the state-imposed tax cap. This cap limits the amount districts can raise the levy year-to-year, and TLCSD’s cap was set this year at 9.18%, meaning the district would need to have a tax levy of $10,424,603 or less to meet the cap.

The tax rate resulting from this budget, which would allow taxpayers to calculate approximately how much in school taxes they would owe, can’t be determined quite yet. Local properties will be reassessed in August, and are subject to change in terms of assessments and equalization rates. The district can provide estimates, though, based on the current year’s assessments.

This budget proposes spending $400,000 less on BOCES shared services. This is an immediate savings, but this reduces revenue in the future because the district gets reimbursed for paying for BOCES shared services.

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Officers

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TLCSD initially planned to eliminate the two school resource officers they contract from the village. These officers are primarily stationed at L.P. Quinn Elementary School and the Middle-High School on school days, where they provide security, educational and emotional support.

These positions are funded through the school. The village employs the SROs — Sgt. Geoffrey Carmichael and retired former chief Tom Fee — and gets reimbursed by the school district. Last year, the village was reimbursed for around $140,000 for those two positions.

But district officials said they couldn’t keep paying for them. There’s enough of a desire in the community, through, that village Mayor Mary Fontana is speaking with the district about picking up the cost of the officers and potentially splitting that with the towns of Tupper Lake and Piercefield.

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Fund balance

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For a long time, the district has pulled money from its unassigned fund balance, which rolls over unspent money from year-to-year, to bolster the budget. But that fund balance is now running low to a point where they can’t do that anymore, district officials say. They could present a budget over the tax cap, but have been hesitant to. The 2022-23 budget, which met the tax cap, passed by only eight votes.

Jamie O’Dell, Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES’ director of shared business services, said the state recommends districts only keep 4% in unassigned fund balance. Bartlett said it is common practice for districts to hold more than that to be prepared for emergencies or reductions in state aid. But TLCSD’s fund balance is now too low to keep doing that, close to 4.7%.

Following the state’s recommendations puts the district at risk, Bartlett said. He called it “contradictory.”

“Historically, there’s always been a bit of a gap in the budget and the revenue here in Tupper Lake,” O’Dell said. “The way that they have been able to balance that is through use of unassigned fund balance. … That’s just no longer sustainable.”

Traditionally, TLCSD has used $350,000 of its fund balance each year. This year, the budget calls for $250,000, or $100,000 less.

O’Dell is recommending the district create reserves rather than put unspent money into the unassigned fund balance. Reserves are dedicated to specific things, while the unassigned fund balance can be spent on anything. But the state prefers to see money in reserves. Specifically, O’Dell is recommending the district create employee and teacher retirement system reserves, and a capital reserve for building maintenance.

TLCSD has two reserves currently, one for unemployment insurance, which will need to be dipped into with the coming layoffs, and one for employee benefit accrued liability, which does the same for employee benefits on termination. In total, there’s around $500,000 in these savings accounts, O’Dell said.

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Foundation aid

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O’Dell said the district is seeing an overall increase in state aid. However, the state’s “save harmless” provision could be eliminated next year if Gov. Kathy Hochul pushes for the state to rewrite its foundation aid formula. This year, TLCSD would’ve seen a $126,000 reduction in foundation aid if that provision were to have been eliminated, according to O’Dell.

The provision currently ensures districts don’t have a decrease in state foundation aid from year-to-year, but Hochul proposed changes to the foundation aid formula as part of her executive budget proposal, which would’ve effectively eliminate that provision.

This year, TLCSD union professionals said the statewide NYSUT teachers union was “instrumental” in potentially holding off Hochul’s planned save harmless elimination. The state budget passed Saturday with save harmless saved.

O’Dell said TLCSD’s foundation aid would not be impacted as much by this elimination, since its formula was adjusted to be more in line with enrollment a few years ago.

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More budget information

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Tupper Lake has the lowest spending per student ratio out of all Tri-Lakes schools, roughly $29,608 for the 2023-24 school year.

“The designation of being the district that does the most with the lease is a two-sided thing,” Bartlett said. “Because you’re super proud of the people who do what they do … On the other hand, it’s kind of frustrating that, continually, they’re being asked to do more and getting less to do it.”

Bartlett said he’s scared by the current state of the budget. He worries that with the current teacher shortage, and that with more money to be had in other careers, that teachers will leave for other jobs.

O’Dell said she’s more hopeful. The district has done everything to save money, to limit expenses and limit the impact on students. Now they need help, she said. Specifically, they need votes for the budget on May 21.

“We need the support of the community,” O’Dell said.

There will be a presentation public hearing on the budget May 13 at 6 p.m. in the Michelle A. LaMere Library at L.P. Quinn Elementary School.

The budget vote and school board election is scheduled for May 21 with polls open from noon to 8 p.m. at the library of the Middle-High School.

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This story is the third in a series on the Tupper Lake Central School District’s 2024-25 budget.