Operations, maintenance requests increase by 14%, 20%

 Renovated gymnasium at Pound Ridge Elementary School

The renovated cupola at Mount Kisco Elementary School.

By JEFF MORRIS 

Proposed 2026-27 budgets for district facilities were presented at the Feb. 25 Board of Education meeting.

Director of Facilities Tim Walsh said there are a total of 44 facilities personnel working on day shift, evening shift and maintenance and grounds. 

As part of his presentation, Walsh showed photos of some of the improvements that have been made to buildings that are under his purview, including the renovated cupola at Mount Kisco Elementary School and renovated gymnasium at Pound Ridge Elementary School.

Operation of Plant funding

Walsh said the department is broken into two codes: Operation of Plant, and Maintenance of Plant. Under Operation of Plant, the 2025-26 budget was $3,386,970; the 2026-27 proposal is $3,870,605, an increase of $483,635, or 14.28%.

Line items to which Walsh called attention were Contracted Services and Repair: Building & Grounds Equipment. There is a 46% decrease under Contracted Services, going from $389,900 to $210,000, while there is a 260% increase on the Repair line, going from $83,200 to $300,000. Walsh said this is an attempt to realign where the expenses should fall and shift them to a repair, where they more accurately fit. He said there is not a dollar-for-dollar shift because there are some cost of living increases included. Contracted Services had actually been much higher in the prior two years, at $681,225 in 2023-24 and $664,714 in 2024-25. Repair had been up and down, at $95,430 in 2023-24 and $79,416 in 2024-25.

Utilities comprise the largest single portion of the Operations budget, at 58%. Walsh noted he was recommending keeping the heating oil line essentially flat. He said expenditures had dropped significantly during the previous two years, but this year it has been colder, and because their invoices lag, they do not know exactly how much has been spent over the past month or two. And, he said, the price changes on a weekly basis under their New York state contract, with there being a slight uptick in the price per gallon compared with the previous fiscal year. 

The largest line in the Operations budget is for electricity. Walsh pointed out that electricity usage has remained essentially the same, and in fact decreased, since 2017, but the cost has increased significantly. While the amount budgeted has remained nearly flat, the actual expenditures have exceeded the budget. In 2023-24, the budget was $739,010 and the actual $800,052; in 2024-25, the budget was $758,700 and the actual $901,872. This year’s budgeted amount was again $758,700. “There is a significant increase requested this year,” said Walsh. “Really what we’re trying to do is just play catch up.” There is a 31.94% increase, from $242,300 to $1,001,000, this year; he said he does not anticipate there being the same increase next year, but “this is the right-sizing year for our electric line item.”

Walsh noted that the district has two electric service providers, with different rate structures. Mount Kisco and West Patent Elementary have New York State Power Authority; the remainder of buildings are NYSEG.

Maintenance of Plant

The Maintenance of Plant budget is going from $1,110,430 to $1,332,000, a $221,570 or 19.95% increase. Again, there has been fluctuation: it had been $1,226,325 in 2023-24 and $2,115,760 in 2024-25. As with Operations, Walsh said some items were being shifted to other lines where they are more appropriate. 

Walsh said there is one new contract he is asking to include, for grass field maintenance for two fields, which will mean an increase of about $24,000. “Especially provided that there are new fields here as part of the capital project, I’d recommend having an annual maintenance program for those fields,” he said.

Another significant increase Walsh recommended is for emergency repairs, which had been budgeted for $240,000 over the past several fiscal years, though actual expenses had outstripped that amount. He said this year that money had already been spent on two projects: the water tanks at PRES, and the retaining wall at MKES. Walsh is requesting a $160,000 increase, to $400,000.

Walsh also discussed the required five-year capital facilities plan, which is partly based on a building condition survey completed in 2023, and which he anticipates being completed in the spring. He presented a partial summary of some of the priority projects related to health and safety already determined by architects Fuller & D’Angelo, which also have done their own site visits and interviews in the district’s buildings. In order to facilitate the work to be done, Walsh is requesting an interfund transfer to capital projects of $500,000.

Under questioning from the board, Walsh said the impact of air conditioning being added as part of the district’s capital bond had not been considered as part of the electricity budget line. But Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations Jose Formoso said they could do a rough square footage and cost calculation based on the fact that MKES, which added a floor of air conditioning, is the only building where electrical usage has increased, and revise the line in the superintendent’s budget.