Contractors: NSA still owes us

LAKE PLACID - A pair of local businessmen claim they were stiffed several years ago by National Sports Academy and the school still hasn't paid up.

Ed Winch, the owner of a Keene Valley business Winch Painting Co., said he painted the entire outside of the school and was paid for less than half of the agreed to amount.

"That school ripped me off," Winch told the Enterprise. "I never got paid; I had to hound them. The original person who was in charge of the money (former Chief Financial Officer Steve Preston) knew they didn't have the money to pay me. Every time I had to get money from him, it was like a battle, nickel-and-diming me."

National Sports Academy (Photo for the Enterprise Andy Flynn)

Winch said he has been in business since 1978, and this is only the second time in his career he wasn't paid for his work. Winch charged $13,000 for the painting job and was given $5,000, he said.

Another local company made a similar accusation against the school.

Hiram Oliveras of Saranac Lake, owner of Hiram Home Improvement, said he is owed money for a past construction job. Oliveras said he put siding on the wall out front of NSA, installed insulation and did other handy work.

In 2012, at the beginning of the project, Oliveras said he was told by a school official, "We don't have a budget; we just have to get it done." The school made the first two payments for the work but did not come forward with the third payment for approximately $7,500, which with late fees tacked on the total adds up to about $30,000, Oliveras said.

"I need compensation," he said. "But if I get the original amount, that's cool. If I do the work, I have to get paid."

Oliveras has filed a lien on the NSA property in March. According to the Essex County clerk's office, there are three unsatisfied liens currently on the property. A federal tax lien is also on the property from the Internal Revenue Service for $70,000. It was filed in 2013. Lake Placid Rental and Supply also has a lien on the property for $8,000 owed.

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Contractors: NSA still owes us