School board adopts warrants, new tax rates twice this month, the second time with only tiny changes

by Dan McClelland

The Tupper Lake Board of Education met twice in special session in August. On August 18 the board met to approve the new tax warrant for the new school year and to make several appointments. It met again this past Wednesday at 8a.m. to approve a slightly revised warrant, but showing only minuscule tax rate changes.

The warrant and tax information the first time ha the general tax levy (or amount to be paid by property owners) forecast of $10.7 million- up by about $320,000 or 3.1 % from the 2024-25 school year the just finished.

The library levy released at the August 18 meeting was $304,886- which is up $17,257 over last year at this time or a hike of six percent.

The tax rates for the three towns of Tupper Lake, Piercefield and Colton that were in prospect were $17.88 per $1,000 of assessed valuation in Tupper, $13.75 in Piercefield and $13.58 per $1,000 assessed valuation in the small portion of the Town of Colton in this district.

The library tax rates approved by the board at the August 18 meeting were 38.6 cents per $1,000 in Colton, 39.1 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation in Piercefield and 50.9 cents per $1,000 in the Town of Tupper Lake.

Among the revisions in the warrants and tax rate adopted this past Wednesday, the tax rates in the three towns were the only noticeable difference, and they were very minor.

The general levy amounts, however, were the same.

The new rates for the school district will be $13.59 per $1,000 in Colton, $13.76 per $1,000 in Piercefield and $17.89 per $1,000 of assessed valuation here.

The revised tax rates or the operation this year of the Tupper Lake Public Library were also up just slightly: 38.7 cents in Colton, 39.2 cents per $1,000 in Piercefield and 51 cents per $1000 in Tupper, in the second warrant and tax rate package Wednesday.