TUPPER LAKE — The Tupper Lake Central School District Board of Education unanimously adopted a $21.9 million proposed budget below the tax cap on Thursday morning in its second vote, after the first vote to adopt failed on Monday morning.

On Monday, board member Korey Kenniston initially voted against adopting the budget while members Sabrina Shipman and Mary Ellen Chamberlain voted for the budget.

On Thursday, Kenniston changed his vote, and with a full board in attendance, all five agreed to adopt the budget.

Why Kenniston changed his vote was not immediately clear. He was not available to speak with the Enterprise by deadline on Thursday.

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%.

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.

TLCSD Superintendent Russ Bartlett said it felt good to get a unanimous vote.

“It makes working forward together to get the budget passed by the public a whole lot easier,” he said.

Whether the budget is approved will be up to the taxpayers, who will vote on the spending plan on May 21.

If voters do not pass the budget, 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 cannot 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.

“It’s as responsible a budget as could be created given limitations by the state. It cuts a lot of things for kids, and I really hope we can pass it and not have to cut more things for kids,” Bartlett said.

Approximately 12% of roughly 165 district staff are being cut next year. More information on the cuts and the failed budget vote can be found in previous parts of this series at tinyurl.com/mry2kn6n, 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.

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 is scheduled for May 21 with polls open from noon to 8 p.m. at the library of the Middle-High School.

May 21 will also be the day of the school board election. Board President Jane Whitmore and Vice President Jason Rolley are both running uncontested to keep their seats.

For the first year this year, New York is allowing universal mail-in voting with no excuse. Previously, absentee mail-in voting was only allowed with certain excuses.

Absentee and early voting ballots can be requested from TLCSD Clerk Shauni Kavanagh’s office starting on May 7. Completed applications must be returned at least seven days before the election if the ballot is to be mailed to the voter, or the day before the election if the ballot is to be delivered in person to the voter.

Absentee ballots must be returned by 3 p.m. on May 21, the day of the vote.