Boone County officials met this week to discuss the county’s tentative budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Boone County Administrator Matthew Webster outlined the county’s Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budgetary initiatives, including expanding county staff and maintaining existing tax rates.
Most general fund revenues in Boone County come from payroll and property taxes. Within the county budget for the current fiscal year, payroll taxes make up approximately 62% of total revenue, while property taxes make up 22%.
“The county maintains an extremely competitive position regarding tax burden on our taxpayers,” Webster said. “We realize that one of our key priorities is to be a high-value organization. The money that we are stewards of that is given to us by our taxpayers — we don’t take that lightly.”
Webster, along with Boone County Treasurer Rob Notton, forecasted that the carryover balance for the current fiscal year would be 24% higher than anticipated. Moreover, the duo found that the county will have total revenue of $776,000 more than budgeted and total expenditures of $391,000 less than budgeted.
“We started at a strong position, we’ve performed well according to budget, and we will end in a strong position,” Notton said.
In addition, Webster said that property tax collection was at 99% while payroll tax collection is forecasted at 102% to date.
Webster said Boone County’s upcoming budget emphasizes public safety, quality of life, and other core service delivery responsibilities. He told the court the county’s budget would use conservative fiscal policies to fund priority investments, straying away from taking on any debt.
Boone County’s upcoming general fund has projected recurring revenues of $78.4 million without any carryover from the current fiscal year. General fund revenues are up 5% year-over-year. Webster attributed the growth to payroll tax growth, interest income and tax revenue growth.
Conversely, budgetary expenditures are increasing to $55.9 million – a 1.4% increase from the current fiscal year. Interfund transfers remained “basically flat” at $30.4 million, according to Webster.
On the staffing front, Boone County is looking to increase its full-time staff to 284 positions. This move would include converting five part-time jail deputies to full-time positions, hiring a senior accountant/compliance officer, hiring a turf specialist for the parks department and hiring another code enforcement officer.
In total, personnel and personnel-related expenditures account for 60.5% of the general fund and 53.1% of the county’s total operating budget.
Regarding American Rescue Plan Act funds, Judge/Executive Gary Moore said the county is required by federal law to budget the funds by the end of 2024. Currently, Boone County possesses approximately $6 million in ARPA funds.
“We are required by the guidelines of ARPA that all funds that we received have to be budgeted by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026,” Moore said. “We’re in compliance with all of those requirements. Even if we wanted to sit on it longer, we couldn’t because of the guidelines.”
External support for the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky is projected to increase by 8.5% to $7.2 million over the next fiscal year. The Kentucky Association of Counties all lines insurance premium is projected to grow by 31.8% to $672,000. Webster attributed the rise to several natural disasters in Kentucky since 2020.
There were some notable decreases, namely funding for the Boone County Sheriff’s Department dropped from $23.3 million to $20.6 million. The decline is primarily attributable to the department’s accelerated purchase of vehicles during the current fiscal year. The county spent nearly $2.9 million on motor vehicles during the current fiscal year. That number is dropping to $300,000 in the next budget.
Boone County is also decreasing funding for election expenses from $769,000 to $485,000 because there will only be one countywide election during the upcoming fiscal year.
Looking ahead, Boone County staff will refine the budget based on feedback from the commission and other elected officials. On May 10, the budget numbers will be finalized in preparation for the first reading of the budget ordinance.
On May 21, Boone County will hold a public hearing regarding the budget and hold the first reading of the budget ordinance. After that, Rob Notton will submit the budget to the Kentucky Department of Local Government for review. A second reading of the budget ordinance will take place on June 18.
Readers can check out Boone County’s proposed budget below:
