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Cabarrus finance chief previews budget process, flags SRO grant shortfall and rising legal costs
Summary
The finance director told the board the district will change how it presents unencumbered balances and previewed the 2025–26 budget calendar. He said the 2024–25 SRO grant award dropped by about $200,000 compared with the previous year and that legal expenses are running above budget.
Cabarrus County Schools staff presented a monthly budget update to the board at the Jan. 16 work session and previewed the schedule for the 2025–26 budget process.
The district’s finance director said the current financial report understates available balances because the report calculates unencumbered balances from the beginning budget rather than the revised budget; staff said they will update the report to calculate from the revised budget to provide a clearer picture.
Staff also highlighted three material items from recent months. First, the district’s federal School Resource Officer (SRO) grant for 2024–25 was smaller than the prior year: staff said the award received “came in at just over a $1,000,000 for us,” about $200,000 less than the previous year. The director said the district had already budgeted to subsidize SRO costs by roughly $300,000 but that the smaller grant increases the district’s net subsidy to roughly $500,000 for the year.
Second, legal expenses remain elevated. The finance director said legal costs run about $60,000 per month and total about $309,000 for the first five months of the fiscal year, placing the district on a trajectory that would exceed budgeted legal expense by roughly $200,000 if trends continue.
Third, staff discussed the funding-in-arrears model for average daily membership (ADM) growth allocations. The director said the district has received the first month’s payment—about $1.1 million—and expects a second payment tied to month-two ADM that will increase the total; final figures depend on statewide allocations.
Next steps and schedule: Schools and departments will submit preliminary budget requests; cabinet and finance staff will meet with principals and treasurers in February and March to aggregate requests. Staff said a board work session is scheduled for March 31 for a budget deep dive, followed by an April 7 public hearing and an April 14 proposed budget adoption. County discussions and commission appropriation decisions are planned before the June 16 county deadline.
Ending: Finance staff said they will present a revised financial report and department-level forecasts at the February meeting and will bring departmental budget requests forward through March and April per the calendar described to the board.
