The ORDA board of directors met to approve the budget and financial plan for the 2025-2026 fiscal year at the meeting space at the jumping complex, pictured here on Friday.
(Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)
LAKE PLACID — The state Olympic Regional Development Authority’s Board of Directors unanimously approved an operating budget of $87,213,874 for the authority’s next fiscal year at a meeting Friday. This will be combined with $155,300,000 in capital contributions to total $242,513,875 in expenditures for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
ORDA is expected to spend $5.2 million more on operates in 2025-26 than the previous fiscal year — the 2024-25 fiscal year, which is still in progress. The authority is also expecting $87,213,875 in revenue, about $5.4 million more than the previous year’s budget. This total includes includes $13,940,000 in state subsidies and grants and $500,000 from the town of North Elba.
This past fiscal year, ORDA brought in about $81 million in revenue, which was about $12 million more than predicted in the 2023-24 budget, according to a financial performance statement provided by the authority.
Total expenditures were also higher last year than predicted in the 2023-24 budget, with actual expenditures totaling around $78 million, $9 million more than in the original budget.
In the 2025-26 fiscal year, ORDA is planning to spend $37.9 million on employee salaries and wages, $16.8 million on employee benefits and $374,000 on professional services contracts. The operating expenditures also include $6.4 million in supplies and materials and $25.7 million in “other operating expenditures.”
The Olympic Jumping Complex is pictured on Friday.
(Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)
Each category of operating expenditures is expected to increase from the approved 2024-25 budget except for employee benefits. During the board meeting, ORDA CEO Ashley Walden said that the lower cost was because they were able to renegotiate a flat rate for employee health insurance.
“We were able to get much more accurate estimates for those numbers, so what you’re seeing is a very accurate number carrying forward,” Walden said.
According to the financial performance statement, in the fiscal year ending in March 2024, ORDA continued to be debt free. The organization plans to continue to operate debt-free through 2029, according to the 2024-29 financial plan that was approved along with the budget.
ORDA generates approximately 80% of its revenue from its operations, according to information included with this year’s financial plan. This revenue is unpredictable because it relies on factors like the weather and the economy. During her report to the board Friday, Walden cited numbers showing ORDA’s visitors increased by 22% and its revenue by 18% for the summer and fall seasons, compared to the same period last year.
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Capital expenditures
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Next year’s capital asset outlay is expected to be around $155,300,000, which is an increase of $72,800,000 or 88% from the 2024-25 fiscal year. This amount is broken down into $14.1 million for maintenance and improvements of existing facilities and $141.2 million for new capital. This includes lifts, snowmaking, electrical and building infrastructure, year-round operational infrastructure and economic development opportunities.
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Approved resolutions
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Following the approval of the budget, the board unanymously approved a $6.3 million project to improve the kitchen and dining area at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center. Walden said the kitchen hasn’t had any major upgrades since it was built. The improvement will involve opening up space and increasing natural light in the facility. It would also modernize equipment and install fully-accessible bathrooms.
The project is expected to happen in the spring, when the training center experiences a lull in activity, Walden said. The goal would be to finish the project before an influx of athletes in the summer, and during the transition there would be a temporary kitchen set up.
The last resolution approved, also unanimously, at Friday’s meeting granted permission for ORDA to enter a projet labor agreement for the Mount Van Hoevenberg sliding track and refrigeration plant improvements project. The board approved the $96 million project for numerous modernizations and improvements at the Mount Van Hoevenberg sliding track at a meeting in September.
