The Lake Placid Central School District’s Board of Education is proposing to use the district’s repair reserve fund for around $1 million in upgrades to the auditorium and weight room.

The auditorium’s lighting system, which was originally going to be upgraded during the district’s capital project in 2017, is the focus of the proposed upgrades. While the 2017 capital project included asbestos removal, a new ceiling and flooring, new seating and a sound system upgrade, the lighting upgrades “never made it to the drawing board,” according to Dana Wood, the district’s assistant superintendent for business, finance and support services.

“Really, we’re trying to finish up what we started with the capital project in the auditorium,” Wood said.

The lighting system is around 25 years old, according to Wood, and he said finding replacement bulbs for the system has grown more difficult as many of the old bulbs have gone out of production. The district has worked with two consultants to assess possible upgrades to the school’s auditorium — mostly to the lighting system — which are estimated to cost around $750,000.

According to board documents, the auditorium needs new LED fixtures, a new lighting console and dimmer service, a video projector and a screen, and connectivity programming of the auditorium’s existing touchscreens to access the new LEDs and console. The district also wants to replace the auditorium’s 20-year-old curtains, install a motorized truss and replace the stage rigging.

A “complete overhaul” of the middle-high school’s “outdated” weight room would account for the repair reserve fund’s remaining $250,000, according to Wood, who said the weight room is currently filled with equipment that’s at least 20 years old. The room would get new weight benches, cardio machines and other updated equipment that would bring the weight room up to today’s standards, Wood said.

If the weight room is updated, Wood said the district would consider opening up the room to the greater community as part of the district’s Community Schools program. But that’s a “vision down the road,” Wood said.

“If we could upgrade (the weight room), it’d be another way to connect with the community,” he added.

A complete list of the proposed auditorium and weight room repairs is available at tinyurl.com/5erur469.

The board of education is expected to hold a public hearing on the proposed repairs before using its repair reserve fund to finance the upgrades.

The public hearing will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9, directly before the board’s public hearing for its 2023-24 budget at 5:45 p.m.

Both hearings will be held in the board of education’s conference room, located in the middle-high school’s Administration Building, before the board’s regular board meeting at 6 p.m. People can also attend the hearings and board meeting virtually via Zoom by visiting tinyurl.com/mt4eyx8p and using the Zoom meeting ID 923 8774 4510 with the passcode 969856. Public hearing documents will be posted online at www.lpcsd.org at a later date, according to board documents.

The board of education is still workshopping its proposed budget for the next school year, according to Wood, though he said the board is expected to approve its preliminary budget at its meeting on April 18.

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Repair reserve fund

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LPCSD’s $1 million repair reserve fund is separate from the district’s regular budget. The fund was created in 2022 after voters approved it in the district’s election last year. The repair reserve fund is financed by surpluses in the district’s budgeting process and by the district’s fund balance, according to Wood.

Wood said LPCSD saved some extra money over the last couple of years when the coronavirus pandemic scaled down the district’s operations. The district was required to go through a regular budgeting process for the duration of the pandemic, but because of school closures and cancelled sports — among other pandemic-related cancellations — the district spent less than in typical school years. These closures and cancellations resulted in a “healthy reserve,” Wood said.

It’s common for school districts to create repair reserve funds to make needed repairs or replace necessities — like heating systems — in cases of emergencies without incurring additional costs to taxpayers in the regular budgeting process, according to Wood.

“The vision is to keep money in this repair reserve fund as long as we possibly can because it helps offset any big expenses through infrastructure that are unanticipated,” he said.

The district could opt to replenish the reserve fund with future budget surpluses after depleting its balance for the proposed auditorium and weight room projects. However, because the district is holding a public hearing on its proposed use of the funds, Wood said the district wouldn’t be required to replenish the account. The district could use money from the repair reserve fund in an emergency situation without holding a public hearing, but Wood said the district would be required to replenish the money spent in that case.

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Election reminders

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The district’s upcoming election is on May 16. Voters will elect three new school board members and vote to accept or reject the district’s proposed 2023-24 budget. There will also be two propositions on the ballot — one would give voters the option to vote for or against the school district leasing one 24-passenger school wheelchair bus and one eight-passenger school bus for a period not to exceed five years at a cost not to exceed $40,732 per year. The other proposition would give voters the option to support or vote against a proposed increase in the district’s funding for the E.M. Cooper Memorial Library in Wilmington, from $16,090 this year to $16,735 for the 2023-24 school year.

The district’s board of education has also discussed setting up an exit poll at the election for voters to weigh in on whether or not the district should enact new state-sanctioned tax exemptions for local emergency service workers. This past December, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation creating an opt-in for state municipal and school district boards to offer a 10% property tax exemption for local fire department and ambulance service volunteers.

The school board also discussed asking voters about their support of a veterans service exemption, which would provide district veterans with a 15% property tax exemption and a 25% property tax exemption for combat veterans.