BY MATT LINDSEY
North Country This Week

Today is the day. St. Lawrence County school district voters will vote whether to approve school budgets today, and board of education seats will also be decided.

Budget voting time varies by district, but is generally open noon to 8 p.m.

• Potsdam Central School District’s 2023-24 proposed budget would raise taxes by 2.15 percent, according to Potsdam Central School Superintendent Jerry Griffin.

If approved by voters, the $37,934,959 budget will result in a $316,264 jump in the tax levy, bringing the total amount to be raised taxes to $15,056,371. The total amount raised by local levy last year was $14,740,107 (this was an increase of $572,743).

Total spending is up 3.7% from last year's $36,589,182 budget.

“Based on the NYS budget negotiations being done with the governor we anticipate $18,791,317 in state aid,” Griffin said

Within the proposed budget, the district hopes to add two additional custodian/bus driver positions, and add one additional elementary teacher (transfer from a TA position). PCS also plans to add a teacher aide at the middle school (transfer from federal funds to general fund), and transition one half-day pre-k classroom to a full day class, and reallocate funds from a federal grant to a general Fund for one high school English teacher who is currently employed.

The district will also ask voters to approve a bus purchase proposition to acquire two buses at an estimated cost of $316,000.

Potsdam Central has three open Board of Education seats.

• Ogdensburg school has one five-year term from July 1, 2023 until June 30, 2028. The open seat is currently filled by Pamela Luckie. The district will keep the tax levy flat for the fourth year in a row with a spending plan that calls for $10.598 million in local property taxes.

Ogdensburg school has one five-year term from July 1, 2023 until June 30, 2028. The open seat is currently filled by Pamela Luckie. The district will keep the tax levy flat for the fourth year in a row with a spending plan that calls for $10.598 million in local property taxes.

Total spending for the district increased by $1.72 million from $53.54 million to $55.26 million over the previous budget year. That’s an increase of about $3.22 percent.

Ogdensburg City School District will keep the tax levy flat for the fourth year in a row with a spending plan that calls for $10.598 million in local property taxes.

Major expenses included in the budget come from an increase in health care costs at about $400,000 and services for students with disabilities at about $840,000.

The budget pulls $4 million from the fund balance to offset local property tax increases which is $245,531 less than whoas used last year.

The district is projecting a significant increase in state aid this year, to the tune of $36.15 million. That’s about $4.8 million more than last year.

The school district has been under some fire as fears of the citywide re-assessment raised concerns regarding potential tax increases.

Ogdensburg City School Superintendent Kevin Kendall said there is a misnomer that due the citywide reassessment, school taxes would be going up.

He said by keeping the levy flat, the tax rate will likely come down, but the exact rate can’t be calculated until the assessments are finalized.

Kendall explained that the tax levy is the total amount of money that a school district collects each year from all property owners in the district.

The tax levy in the Ogdensburg City School District has remained unchanged for the last four years, despite inflation, and will remain unchanged for a 4th consecutive year, in the 2023-2024 budget year.

The Ogdensburg City School District is not increasing the tax levy.

Kendall also explained that tax rates are calculated by dividing the total amount of the levy by the total assessed value in the community. While the district tax levy remains unchanged, the City of Ogdensburg has recently increased assessed property values.

• Canton Central School District’s 2023-24 proposed budget would raise taxes by 3.16 percent, according to Canton Central School Superintendent Ron Burke.

If approved by voters, the $37,160,000 budget will result in a $339,875 jump in the tax levy, bringing the total amount to be raised taxes to $11,098,667.

Total spending is up 6.7% from last year's $34,805,724.

Burke said the district anticipates state aid to total $20,254,118 which is a 2.2% increase over the prior year ($19,807,370).

The total increase in revenue from last year is $2,354,276. Burke says that $13,485,260 is from state foundation aid, $6,768,858 is from other state aid, $500,500 will be raised through local revenue such as mergers, services and rent, $5,306,715 will come from fund reserves and the remaining $11,098,667 is funded through property taxes.

The district is eliminating a high school instructional support teaching position, a cleaning job, as well as a school nurse position.

“We also have a proposition to purchase 3 new buses at a cost to not exceed $502,000. These will be subject to transportation aid which provides reimbursement of approximately 90%,” he said.

Within the budget, CCS has a $100,000 capital outlay project. Burke said this project will be for upgrades to the Banford and middle school gymnasiums.

Canton Central School has three open seats on the school board this year.

• Norwood-Norfolk Central School’s $28.8 million 2023-24 budget increases spending by 11.1% but includes no increase to the tax levy for the fifth consecutive year.

The Norwood-Norfolk School District Board of Education adopted a proposed budget of $28,848,942 on March 21.

“The commitment by New York State Legislatures and Governor Kathy Hochul to fully fund state-aid has significantly impacted the Norwood-Norfolk Central School District’s budget planning,” said James Cruikshank, superintendent.

“As a traditionally underfunded school district that is 70% funded by the state, we welcome this three-year plan to phase in aid,” he said. “These funds will have a tremendous impact on our children and their educational programs.”

For the tenth cumulative year, the district is able to present this budget with a 0% increase to the local tax share per $1,000 assessed property value, while maintaining compliance with the tax cap formula, Cruikshank said.

• Massena Central

Following the passage of the state budget, Massena residents now know for sure that the Massena Central School District will see a 0% tax levy increase with the 2023-24 budget.

Now that the budget is finalized, school officials now know that school aid went up $2.9 billion, with $2.6 billion earmarked for foundation aid.

According to Brady, state officials maintained the final phase-in of the foundation aid formula and also fully funded all expense-based aids, which is BOCES aid.

Brady also told board members officials were pleased to see an initiative that would have set aside foundation aid for high impact tutoring was not included in the final budget.

Included in the final state budget was a minimum wage increase to $15 starting Jan. 1, continually rising to $16 through 2026.

Total revenues for the district sit at $69,362,732, with a projected total cost of expense sitting at $69,832,522. The $469,790 deficit will be covered with the district’s designated fund balance, officials say.

The Massena Central School District will receive $49,755,557 in state aid. That total is up $7,324,763 from last year.

Foundation aid is $34,462,609, up $5,036,407, while expense-based aid is $8,540,573, up $731,572.

Building aid stands at $6,752,375, an increase of $1,556,784.

While aid has risen for the district, so have total expenses. A $1,519,356 increase in benefits is listed in the budget along with a $2,244,031 increase in salaries.

The Employee Retirement System contribution is also increasing by $169,734, officials say.

An increase of $42,581 in the Teacher Retirement System contribution, $168,169 increase in Social Security and $1,183,471 increase in health insurance are also included.

The only decrease seen is a $4,600 decrease in workers compensation.

Voters will vote on the district budget on May 16, along with a potential $9 million capital reserve fund that will be used for future capital improvement projects, if voters approve the measure.

Also on the ballot will be two board of education seats, one with a five-year term and another for a remaining three-year term. Up for consideration are candidates Joyce Giroux, Kayla Lalonde and Zachary Monroe.

The 2023-24 full-value tax rate is the lowest it has been in twenty years, and the proposed budget presents a 0% increase to the local tax levy for the fifth year in a row, he said.

The 2023-24 budget proposal increases spending by $2,875,535 or 11.07% over the current year.

NNCS expects to receive 73.6% of funding from federal and state aid, with $21.2 million expected for the upcoming school year.

In addition to the proposed budget, NNCS is asking voters to approve the spending required to maintain its bus replacement schedule.

Additionally, the district has included propositions to establish two additional reserve funds that will help mitigate future expenses associated with transportation and construction.

There are three candidates running for three open seats on the NNCS Board of Education. The candidates in alphabetical order are Marela Fiacco, Amy LaCroix, and Heaven Simons.

• Brasher Falls Central has two open seats, both five-year terms. The seats are currently held by Sarah Bowles and Bethany St. Hilaire.

• Clifton-Fine Central has one seat open on their school board this year. Petitions for candidates may be obtained from the district clerk’s office from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

• Colton-Pierrepont school has three open seats this year. All seats are four-year terms, expiring June 30, 2027. The terms for board members Sarah Hartmans, Clint Perrigo and Chad VanBrocklin are expiring.

• Edwards-Knox Central has four open seats, with two seats five-year terms (expiring June 30, 2028), one seat will be for a two-year term (expiring June 30, 2025) and one seat will be for a one-year term (expiring June 30, 2024). Seats are expiring for Tom O’Brien, Krista Krull-Gross, Lynn Collier and a seat vacated by Todd Wells, who moved out of the area. The seat vacated by well is a one-year term.

• Gouverneur school will have three open seats this year. Open seats belong to David Fenlong, Todd Bates and Brooke Bush.

• Hermon-DeKalb school has three open board seats, both five-year terms, beginning July 1, 2023.

• Hammond Central has two open seats this year on the school board.

• Harrisville school has two board of education seats open and both are five-year terms, expiring June 30, 2028. The terms for board members Denise Avallone and Heidi McIntosh are expiring.

• Hermon-DeKalb Central School has three seats open to be voted on.

• Heuvelton school has one seat open this year. The seat expiring this year is for Barbara Knauf, president.

• Lisbon Central has one seat open on its board this year.

• Madrid-Waddington Central School has two seats open. The terms for board members Charles Grant and Katie Logan are expiring.

• Massena Central School has one open Board of Education seats this year.

• Morristown Central has one open seat for its school board.

• Parishville-Hopkinton school has two seats on their board open. They are five-year terms, beginning July 1, 2023. Board seats of Christina Snell and Ward Remington will be vacant at the end of this school year.