TLCSD Superintendent Jaycee Welsh, left, and TLCSD Clerk Shauni Kavanaugh smile after the budget results were tallied and released in the Tupper Lake Middle-High School Library shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. Middle-High School Principal Chris Savage is seen in the background. The budget passed with close to 72% of the vote. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

TUPPER LAKE — The ayes have it.

Tupper Lake Central School District voters approved the 2025-26 budget, along with the district’s propositions for the purchase of a new 30-seat gasoline-operated bus and creation of a capital reserve fund. Board of Education Member Josh Trembley, who ran unopposed, was reelected.

According to unofficial results, the budget passed with 365 “yes” votes to 143 “no” votes, or approximately 71.85% to 28.15%. The bus proposition passed with 343 “yes” votes to 162 “no” votes, or approximately 67.92% to 32.08%. The capital reserve proposition passed with 385 “yes” votes to 125 “no” votes, or approximately 75.49% to 24.51%. Tremblay received 450 votes and there were six write-ins for the board member election.

The nearly 44 percentage point approval margin stands in stark contrast to last year, when the budget passed with 55% approval amid stringent opposition to an 8.75% increase in the tax levy. With a total of 511 ballots cast — including absentees — in Tuesday night’s unofficial results, turnout was less than half of last year, which saw about 1,128 ballots cast. The surge in turnout then was fueled in part by the controversy surrounding the larger increase in tax levy. In the five years before 2024, the levy increases ranged from 1.24% to 3.16%.

This year’s $21,918,837 budget sought a 3.08% increase in the tax levy. Although the budget was only up $63,709, or 0.3% from last year’s, the greater increase in taxes comes as the district lost revenue from other sources.

For instance, the budget draws less from its reserves — down to $150,000 from the $250,000 drawn for the 2024-25 budget — and the loss of revenue from the Smart Schools Bond Act, which provided $282,000 for the 2024-25 school year.

For the town of Tupper Lake, the 2025-26 estimated tax rate is $17.43 per $1,000 of assessed value, meaning that someone owning a property assessed at $300,000 would pay an estimated $5,229 in school taxes if the budget is approved by voters. That’s up from the current actual rate of $16.91 per $1,000 of assessed value, meaning that someone owning a property assessed at $300,000 paid $5,073 in school taxes for the 2024-25 year.

For the town of Piercefield, the 2025-26 estimated tax rate is $15.07 per $1,000 of assessed value, meaning that someone owning a property assessed at $300,000 would pay an estimated $4,521 in school taxes if the budget is approved by voters. That’s up from the current actual rate of $14.62 per $1,000 of assessed value, meaning that someone owning a property assessed at $300,000 paid $4,386 in school taxes for the 2024-25 year.

For the town of Colton, the 2025-26 estimated tax rate is $14.03 per $1,000 of assessed value, meaning that someone owning a property assessed at $300,000 would pay an estimated $4,209 in school taxes if the budget is approved by voters. That’s up from the current actual rate of $13.61 per $1,000 of assessed value, meaning that someone owning a property assessed at $300,000 paid $4,083 in school taxes for the 2024-25 year.

The budget is comprised of about 48.7% in school taxes, 48.1% in state aid, 2.5% in miscellaneous revenue and 0.7% in an unassigned fund balance.

The voting results cap off an intensive budget season for first-year TLCSD Superintendent Jaycee Welsh, who was hired last summer. Welsh held six budget info sessions and “took the show on the road,” dropping in at Lions and Rotary club meetings, as well as the village board meeting on Monday.

At that meeting, village Trustee Eric Shaheen, who was an opponent of last year’s school budget, commended Welsh on the amount of budget information and outreach she had done over the past two months.

“I would like to thank you,” he said. “Because you’re doing what should have been done for the last 10 years and that’s being very transparent. … You are doing a great job, I will give that 100% to you.”

Part of Welsh’s approach to the budget was confronting a dire long-term outlook, with estimated revenues and expenditures through 2030. The district hired Dr. Rick Timbs, a retired BOCES superintendent who now provides financial guidance and recommendations to about 70 districts throughout New York, to spearhead the analysis. He presented his findings to the public at a March 10 TLCSD board meeting.

His report showed that unless the district began cutting costs significantly, looming increases in various expenses the district will be obligated to pay — such as retirement and healthcare benefits — would result in multimillion-dollar deficits by the decade’s end.

According to Timbs’ calculations, beginning in 2026, the district’s revenue-to-expenditure difference is predicted to be $1,242,548 at the current trajectory. The gap widens each year. In 2027, that figure rises to $1,937,605. In 2028, it becomes $2,695,377. In 2029, it rises to $3,503,830 and in 2030, it balloons up to $4,325,688.

For more information on Timbs’ presentation to TLCSD, visit tinyurl.com/m7xj4p2k.

This year’s budget has several cost-saving measures, such as transitioning its business and food services in-house. Those are currently contracted out to Franklin-Essex-Hamilton and Capital Region BOCES, respectively. TLCSD estimates these moves will result in $425,000 budgetary savings with the business office and $150,000 with the food services.

There are also job cuts. The budget eliminates 11.5 positions, although the majority of those are through attrition and consolidation. At the village board meeting on Monday, Welsh said there would either be four or five layoffs.

While the years ahead are likely to continue to present challenging financial decisions for the district, there was a palpable sense of relief, joy and gratitude among school officials in the Middle-High School Library Monday evening.

Shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m., the results were tallied and read aloud. The room — which was largely composed of school officials, faculty and staff — broke into cheers and applause, with Board President Jane Whitmore and TLCSD Clerk Shauni Kavanaugh turning to embrace Welsh.

Without any further business to take up that evening at its annual meeting, the board voted to adjourn at 8:03 p.m. — on a motion by board Vice President Jason Rolley, who joined Welsh for her information session at the Monday village board meeting, and seconded by board Member Sabrina Shipman.

Reflecting on the budget passing, Welsh said the numbers mirrored the feedback she received from the community — which she said was “overwhelmingly” positive.

“I think my face says it all,” she said, smiling. “I’m super pleased. The community deserves this. The kids deserve this. Our teachers and staff deserve this.”