Lake Placid school budget holds taxes level

Lohr Mckinstry, The Press-Republican, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
·2 min read

May 8—LAKE PLACID — The proposed Lake Placid Central School District budget has a flat tax levy over the current spending plan.

The total budget is $20.7 million, a 3.7 percent increase over last year, but the tax levy, the amount to be raised by property taxes, stayed the same at $16.7 million.

That means the tentative tax rates for Lake Placid, North Elba and Wilmington remain at $7.25 per $1,000 of assessment, the same as before. The budget is within the adjusted state tax cap of 1.68 percent for the district.

"The 2021-22 LPCSD budget does not increase property taxes," Superintendent Dr. Roger Catania said in a statement. "We will rely instead on the use of additional state funding, federal support, and unrestricted fund balance to continue providing outstanding educational programs for our students.

"Assuming stable assessments, no taxpayer will see an increase in their school taxes. With this budget LPCSD will be able to maintain high-quality academic and extracurricular programs and the staffing needed to provide those programs. This budget includes payments for debt service to cover the costs of our soon-to-be complete capital project."

The budget uses $488,570 from the unexpended fund balance. The district also got a 2.26 percent increase in state aid, to $3.1 million. Federal stimulus money amounted to $315,542.

Staff salaries increased 3.4 percent, from $8.9 million to $9.2 million for 2021-22.

The budget includes an additional special education teacher and special education teaching assistant, an upgrade of the district's computer network, funding for professional staff development, summer school and a family visitation coordinator one day a week. It also has money to provide free meals for all students since the federal subsidy has ended.

There are two propositions on the ballot: to lease three 66-passenger buses at $58,500 per year for up to five years, and to increase annual funding for the Wilmington E.M. Cooper Memorial Public Library from $14,820 to $15,470.

There are three incumbent candidates running unopposed for three open School Board seats: Colleen Locke, Martha Pritchard Spear and Daniel Cash.

The candidate with the least votes will get a two-year unexpired term and the others a full three-year term. When Jeff Brownell resigned after the 2020 school election, Cash was appointed to fill his seat and that is the unexpired term.

The school election and budget vote is 2 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 18 at the Lake Placid Elementary School and Wilmington Community Center.

Lake Placid has 605 students in grades kindergarten through 12.