SARANAC LAKE — The village of Saranac Lake is considering a $7.3 million tentative budget for the coming year. It would meet the tax cap and include no changes to water and sewer rates.

A public hearing date is expected to be set for April 28 and the village board is slated to discuss the budget again on April 15. The tentative budget can be found at tinyurl.com/3fyr6u53.

The village is proposing to spend $7,312,492 in the coming 2025-26 fiscal year — $166,306, or 2.34%, more than the current fiscal year.

To pay for this, the tentative budget currently calls for the village to collect, or levy, $4,560,147 from taxpayers, a $106,219, increase from the current budget year and the maximum amount this figure can go up without going over the state-imposed tax cap. The tax cap this year was set at 2.26% — the state base of 2% plus a growth percentage of 0.26% — which is smaller than last year’s 0.33% growth rate. Going over this cap would require a vote by the village board.

The village is expecting to earn $2,077,598 in revenue this year, $88,631 more than was anticipated the previous year.

The budget calls for the village to pull $981,749 from its reserves in its fund balance, $17,792 more than the last budget called for. Village Manager Bachana Tsiklauri said there is around $3.8 million in the general fund balance currently, though this is subject to change.

There were discussions of a deficit, but Tsiklauri said there is no deficit in the village budget. Although the village expects to spend more than it generates in taxes and other revenues, it has reserves to pull from to fill the gap. These reserves are smaller than they were a couple years ago, but back then, they were considered too large. The village’s reserves are still currently significantly larger than the state recommends, but it is common practice for municipalities and school districts in New York to hold more money in reserves than the state recommends.

Including the village’s $2.14 million water budget and $2.73 million sewer budget, its total spending for the next fiscal year would be $12.18 million. There are no projected changes to the water or sewer rates this year. Tsiklauri said the village has been earning “hefty” interest on money it keeps in the bank for water and sewer — enough to cover cost increases to those departments this year.

Some of the numbers are subject to change, but he expects the budget to stay at the cap and for the tax rate to stay the same throughout the budget process from here on out.

Wages for the mayor and trustees are staying the same — $5,000 for each trustee, a total of $20,000 for the four-member board, and $10,000 for the mayor.

The village has a May 1 deadline to pass its budget. The village plans to finalize its tentative budget by April 14 to give them time to announce a public hearing, hold it and vote before the deadline.

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Tax rate

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The village sits inside three towns. The tax rates in each town are different because each town assesses properties differently. To ensure that each town’s taxpayers pay their fair share in taxes, the state has something called an equalization rate, which equalizes each towns’ assessments to full market value to make up for any differences in how properties are assessed.

Harrietstown has an equalization rate of 70% because it is under-assessed and St. Armand has an equalization rate of 84% because is less under-assessed, according to the state. North Elba, on the other hand, is fully assessed at 100%.

Residents who live in the Harrietstown part of Saranac Lake would pay $13.86 per $1,000 of assessed property value under the proposed budget, a $0.03 — or 0.18% — increase per $1,000 from the current fiscal year.

Someone who owns a $300,000 house in the Harrietstown part of Saranac Lake would pay $4,156.86 in village taxes, $7.59 more than last year.

Residents in the North Elba part of Saranac Lake would pay $9.73 per $1,000 of assessed property value, a $1.59 — or 14.07% — decrease per $1,000.

Someone who owns a $300,000 house in the North Elba part of Saranac Lake would pay $2,918.52 in village taxes, $477.78 less than last year.

Residents in the St. Armand part of Saranac Lake would pay $11.58 per $1,000 of assessed property value, a $0.26 — or 2.3% — increase per $1,000.

Someone who owns a $300,000 house in the St. Armand part of Saranac Lake would pay $3,474.42 in village taxes, $78.15 more than last year.

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Fund balances

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Although budgeted expenses often outpace revenues for the village, Tsiklauri said not all anticipated expenses come true. When money allocated in one year’s budget doesn’t get spent, it gets added to the fund balance to potentially be spent the next year. He said he’s trying to budget more accurately.

He said the village is getting into the habit of using less of the fund balance to fill the gap between revenue and appropriations by trimming appropriations which were consistently over-estimated in past years. His goal is to get the water and sewer budgets to fund more from revenues instead of reserves.

Tsiklauri said the general fund balance went down this year because of a $1.2 million firetruck purchase, and snowplow overtime due to the heavy and consistent snow over the winter.

The village has no debt in its general fund but $21.9 million in debt in its water and sewer departments. Tsiklauri said this is a “huge” number, but relatively-speaking not a lot, considering the major infrastructure projects it was taken out for. Most of this debt is at 0% interest.

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Water and sewer

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Tsiklauri said the village will probably need to increase water and sewer rates by 1% to 3% in the coming years to fund projects coming up. Recently, the village has held these rates at 0% increases. But with major upgrades on the horizon, they don’t want too large of a jump in these bills.

Mayor Jimmy Williams said from 2013 to 2023, water rates jumped by 71% and sewer rates by 66%. In this time span, the national average was 44%, he said. Between 2019 and 2023, village water rates went up 20% and sewer rates went up 30%.

Trustee Kelly Brunette said she wants stability in the water and sewer rate changes and that increases should be gradual. She felt keeping the rates at 0% change for years is not good. Having inconsistent and severe jumps are hard for taxpayers to budget for, she said.

Tsiklauri said he wants to avoid what happened when the village wells were dug in 2012 and rates went up 30%. It is hard for residents to account for that.

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Public comments

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Village resident Mark Wilson had a question about a $134,000 discrepancy he saw between wage numbers in the separate “position” and “department” portions of the document. Tsiklauri said this was because of a clerical error and one of these portions didn’t account for overtime.

Wilson said the “800-pound gorilla in the room” is the planned emergency services building complex at 33 Petrova Ave., a project he opposes. He asked how the village will afford the anticipated $27 million project. On Tuesday, Tsiklauri said the village has several million dollars in grants and reserves and is “actively searching” for more funding.

Village resident Doug Haney asked the village to create a long-term plan to increase revenue.

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Cannabis

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The Elevate ADK dispensary became the first state-licensed dispensary in the Tri-Lakes last year and is estimated to bring in $100,000 in tax revenue to the village this year. Tsiklauri said the village got almost $95,000 in cannabis tax checks since it opened in October 2023, but hasn’t gotten its quarterly checks since August 2024.

Elevate General Manager Eli Emery said they pay their taxes to the state every quarter and provided documentation of the last two tax receipts from the state. He said the delay in village tax checks might be at the state-level.

Trustee Matt Scollin wants to use cannabis money for something specific.

Williams then suggested using it to purchase a water pump for the Mount Pisgah Ski Area the village owns. A grant last year allowed the village to install new pipe and snowmakers, but the pump is now “undersized” and the last “weak spot” in the system, he said.

“Once the pump is put in place, Pisgah should be good for 25 years,” Williams said.

He’s estimating the entire project would cost at least $155,000.

Trustee Sean Ryan also suggested using cannabis funds on accessibility, which he said is needed badly at the Lake Colby Beach and Garwood Park so everyone can enjoy the Adirondacks. He suggested buying floating chairs or mats that allow people in wheelchairs to get in the water easier.

Trustee Aurora White had also requested $150,000 for upgrades to the National Guard armory on state Route 3, where the police department headquarters are now located, for accessibility upgrades. These include a ramp to bypass stairs. Williams said they’ll need to talk about spending money on a property now owned by the village. The armory is owned by the state.

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Spending

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The board discussed allocating $25,000 to the Saranac Lake Local Development Corporation as it did last year — with the same stipulation that uses need to be approved by the board. Scollin said if the SLLDC’s “Fixer-Upper Fund” is popular, the money could be used to “seed” a neighbor-driven exterior renovation program.

The village’s advisory boards sent in several funding requests — $15,000 for enhancements at Ward Plumadore Park; $12,500 for design and grant writing for Riverside Park improvements; $10,350 for four plaques to be installed at existing public art around the village; $1,500 for pop-up art by local high school students in vacant storefronts; $1,250 for a mural on the Berkeley Green bathroom; $1,250 for art mixers; $1,250 for an adopt-a-bench program to paint two benches a year; $1,250 for projection art in the Riverside Park bandshell; $4,500 for Dorsey Street River Walk improvements; $2,500 for signage; $2,000 for crosswalk improvements and money for movable fire pits around town.

Brunette said a lot of these projects are already covered in other funding. For the rest, she said the village should pick and choose which of these are priorities and ready to go — they can’t do them all at once, she said.