Anderson County Board approves FY25 working budget with $1.6M contingency

The Anderson County Board of Education on Sept. 9 approved a working budget for fiscal year 2025 that the district must submit to the Kentucky Department of Education by Sept. 30. Chief Financial Officer Josh White said the working budget includes a contingency of about $1.6 million, equal to roughly 4.59% of the overall budget, and relies on limited transfers from capital outlay, the building fund and the daycare fund to reach that level.

White told trustees the budget anticipates increased costs for property and casualty insurance (+$138,000), utilities (about +$67,000), and fleet vehicle purchases (+$125,000). He also said State funding will offset a portion of school resource officer costs — “we do have some State funding that’s coming in for that at $20,000 per campus,” White said. The presentation noted salary-and-benefit expenses for August decreased compared with last year because grants and title funds covered positions previously paid from the general fund.

The working budget assumes declines in certain grant-funded revenues — White said ESSER funds from earlier years have been spent down — and projects general fund personnel costs to increase approximately $236,000 over the previous year. Board members asked questions about contingency levels and cash flow timing before approving the working budget on a unanimous roll-call vote.