Lake Placid CSD previews $24.6 million budget; board schedules vote May 19

The Lake Placid Central School District presented a proposed $24,600,000 budget for the coming year, Superintendent Tim Seymour said, a 6.49% increase from the prior year driven primarily by rising health-insurance costs.

"Our premiums have skyrocketed year over year," Seymour said, describing a 22% increase in the district's health-plan charges that he said required a one-time correction from the consortium this year. Seymour said approximately $18.6 million of the district's revenue is expected to come from the property tax levy, a roughly 3.2% levy increase that the administration says remains under the state cap.

Business official Mr. Wood detailed how that projected levy translates to homeowners. Using a $5.18 per $1,000 assessed valuation projection, Wood said a $300,000 home would have paid about $2,058 under prior calculations and that, for an illustrative $350,000 home, the additional tax burden over three years amounted to roughly $69.

Administration said roughly 80% of district revenue is earmarked for student programming, about 12% for capital and debt service and roughly 8% for administration. The budget plan includes appropriating a larger share of the unassigned fund balance than in recent years and drawing $537,000 from a capital reserve for a ballot proposition to purchase three gas-powered buses.

Seymour highlighted programmatic priorities the budget would maintain or expand, including driver education, the community schools initiative, continued implementation of the science-of-reading curriculum, a new elementary math curriculum pilot and free Universal Pre-K in partnership with St. Agnes School.

The district also announced ballot items for the May 19 vote: the proposed spending plan, three seats on the Board of Education (Robert DeMarco is running for a first 3-year term; Ryan St. Louis and Douglas Lansing seek additional terms), and a small Wilmington Library budget increase of $271. The administration said the budget vote will run from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Wilmington Community Center and Lake Placid Elementary School.

Next steps: the board will hold the budget vote on May 19; results will be adopted at a regular meeting on May 20.