Finance director: county ended FY24–25 with $18.4M net revenue and proposes $8.3M committed carryover

Finance Director Ms. Sturdivant (Speaker 15) presented the county’s FY 24–25 end‑of‑year reconciliation and carryover requests, summarizing revenues, proposed carryovers and impacts to the general‑fund reserve.

She said the prior fiscal year’s carryover added about $3.2 million to general‑fund reserves, producing a reserve that represents about 15.7% of the county operating budget. For FY 24–25, she reported the county ended the year with revenues over expenses of around $18.4 million. The proposed committed carryover—items earmarked for projects, encumbrances and school carryover—was listed at about $8.3 million; discretionary carryover requests from departments and nonprofits totaled about $5.4 million.

After deducting proposed committed and discretionary carryovers, Sturdivant said the county would see an estimated increase to general‑fund reserves of roughly $3.8 million, bringing the general‑fund reserve balance to about $33.5 million and increasing the reserve percentage of the operating budget to an estimated 16.8–17%. She noted that the county’s board policy target range is between 12–15% and that the reserve percentage is a moving target affected by supplements and appropriations during the year.

Sturdivant also noted the courthouse project returned about $2.3 million in local funds and said the county used about $800,000 of general‑fund reserves in the FY25‑26 budget. She reminded the board a public hearing on carryover and an amendment to the operating budget will be scheduled for the Sept. 23 meeting as required because the amendment exceeds 1% of the current budget.

Board members thanked staff for the presentation and asked follow‑up questions about specific revenue drivers (including utility/corporate tax variability and Appalachian Power improvements) and the timeline for the public hearing and action items.