Consultant outlines phased capital plan leveraging state aid and reserves to avoid tax increases

A consultant reviewing West Seneca’s long-range capital needs told the Board of Education on Aug. 12 that carefully timed, phased projects could deliver roughly $120 million in building work without increasing the district’s current local-share tax burden by taking advantage of state building aid, scheduled debt drop-offs and capital reserves.

Rick Yancey, the presenter, summarized the district’s aid ratio and long-term options: “75.8 percent is your district's ratio. Essentially, what that means is for every eligible dollar spent on a capital project, the state will pick up roughly 75¢ of every dollar,” he said. Yancey explained that New York State building aid ranges from 10% to 98% depending on district wealth and that West Seneca’s ratio allows significant leveraging.

Yancey showed a multi-year model that schedules a $40 million vote tied to a local-share drop in 2028–29, a $15 million vote at the next drop, and a larger $65 million vote at a later drop, which together could produce approximately $120 million of capital work without a “tax impact” if timed to debt service roll-offs. He said districts typically need to plan two to three years ahead of a local-share drop because design, voter authorization and State Education Department approval can take that long.

The presentation described the state’s “maximum cost allowance” per building and a five-year reset rule: work done at a building becomes a hold against that building’s allowance for five years, so teams must time projects to maximize eligible aid. Yancey cited reset examples (East Middle, May 2026; West Junior, Dec. 2026) and urged using each building’s allowance to avoid 100% local cost on excess work.

The consultant also recommended using capital reserves to expand project size without raising taxes: at West Seneca’s aid ratio, a rough 4:1 leverage example was shown (each $1 of reserve could support about $4.10 of project value). Yancey said the district has previously used reserves as a down payment on projects and could increase reserves ahead of a vote to buy more capital work.

Superintendent noted programmatic decisions that will require board choices, including the future of the district’s four secondary pools, which Yancey said have renovation needs in excess of $12 million. The presentation clarified aided versus non-aided buildings (the consultant said Ebenezer is not aided; transportation facilities are eligible if used for bus maintenance) and reminded the board that projects must sit within each building’s allowance to preserve state aid.

Yancey said the district’s strong credit and prior long-range planning are credit positives and that planning projects in phases keeps the local share “as flat as possible” to avoid tax-cap spikes when new projects are added.

The presentation was framed as foundation work for a board work session; no vote to authorize a capital project occurred at the meeting.