Cabarrus County Schools board approves final 2024–25 budget amendments, authorizes possible July closing resolution

Rob Walter, board chair of the Cabarrus County Board of Education, opened a June work session by asking the board to approve final amendments to the 2024'25 budget and to authorize a closing budget resolution that would permit limited post-year adjustments at the board's July meeting.

The vote cleared both the budget amendments and the closing-resolution authorization after a motion by board member Sam Treadaway and a second by Greg Mills, vice chair. William, a staff member who reviewed the draft in advance, told the board he was comfortable with the language.

Phil Pan, a staff member presenting the amendment, said, "This is what I hope will be our final budget amendment for 2425." Pan told trustees the district is now anticipating a fund-balance appropriation in local Fund 2 of $3,820,000 and that, overall, budgeted expenditures for 2024'25 total $561,600,000 across all funds. He said the district recorded a net increase of just over $2,000,000 in the state public school fund (Fund 1) to reflect final expenses for guaranteed allotments, longevity pay and leave payouts, and a roughly $48,000 increase tied to developmental-day programming for exceptional children.

Pan described movements between funds intended to match expenses with available fund balance: local Fund 2 shows the $3,820,000 appropriation, and special revenue Fund 8 saw an appropriation of $3,000,000. He said transfers included $1.3 million in utility expenses moved to Fund 8 and later referred to $3.3 million in total moved from Fund 2 to Fund 8 for utilities. He also reported an increase of about $245,000 in federal funds (including roughly $244,000 in additional IDEA funding), and a $1.6 million recording in Kids Plus (Fund 7) that reflects a transfer back to local funds required for Kids Plus accounting.

Pan cautioned trustees against interpreting the appearance of large available balances as immediately spendable. "Most of that's capital driven," he said, noting an unencumbered capital balance of about $97.5 million that carries into the 2025'26 year. When a trustee asked whether the district earned interest on capital funds, Pan replied, "They actually hold the cash on capital. So we do not get interest on capital." He also explained that the district is continuing to see issues with LINQ, the accounting software, and said the closing resolution would preserve a narrowly prescribed ability to adjust the immediately preceding year at the July meeting if needed.

The closing-budget-resolution language was brought to the board after a statewide discussion among chief finance officers and on the recommendation of the district's external auditors, Anderson, Smith and White, who advised having a narrowly scoped mechanism to make late adjustments when accounting software problems affect year-end reporting. William said he had reviewed the draft and was comfortable with it, and the board chair confirmed any changes would come back to the board at the July 14 meeting if necessary.

Board member Pam Escobar asked a clarification question about a typographical error in the materials; Pan confirmed the correct Fund 2 appropriation of $3,820,000. After the motions, Rob Walter called the vote: "All in favor, please say aye." No member spoke in opposition and the motions passed. Trustees scheduled the next public meeting for July 14.

The vote approved the budget amendment package and authorized the district to use a closing budget resolution if required by lingering LINQ issues; the board did not adopt any additional policy changes during the session.