The Saranac Lake Youth Center is seen Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Youth Center requested $10,000 from the village to help pay for a new part-time assistant and meet operating expenses in 2020.

The village Board of Trustees received the request at Monday night’s meeting.

Saranac Lake Youth Center Director Aleacia Landon said there will be an increase in payroll and an overall increase in spending this year.

“We’ve had increased attendance, so that means more after-school snacks, more wear and tear on the facility,” she said in an interview Wednesday.

In 2018, the youth center had 3,859 children visit the facility. The average daily visit was 19. Both of those numbers went up in 2019. Last year, 5,328 children visited the youth center, and the average daily visit number was 25.

Landon said the numbers in 2019 are the highest the youth center has seen since 2004.

“We’ve tried to improve our programming and our outreach,” she said. “The youth center is a fun place for kids, and we’re working on building relationships, being good mentors and helping the kids make better decisions for themselves. Those have been the biggest factors in increasing our attendance.”

In 2019, the youth center requested $5,000 from the village.

The youth center is funded through multiple groups and governments such as the Adirondack United Way, the Saranac Lake Women’s Civic Chamber, the Cloudsplitter Foundation and the towns of North Elba and Harrietstown.

The Franklin County Youth Bureau also helps fund the youth center. This year it granted $10,000. Landon said the bureau granted the youth center $10,300 in 2019.

“It has decreased from last year, but it’s still close,” she said. “Many years ago, we received a lot more funding, and it’s gradually decreased.”

The youth center’s total expenses for its 2020 budget is $67,265. Landon said $64,000 would be a comfortable amount with which to operate.

In the yearly report, Landon said the youth center continued to offer healthy after school snacks, started an LGBTQ support group that meets twice a month, participated in a teen dating violence event at the Saranac Lake Free Library, hosted an Easter egg hunt, attended a bike safety seminar, adopted a plot of land for a community garden, picked up trash around the community and worked on an anti-bullying campaign.

The Saranac Lake Youth Center is located at 29 Woodruff St., across from Nori’s Village Market. It is a nonprofit group, and there are no fees to attend.