The Carroll County Finance Ways and Means Committee approved the proposed FY2026-27 county budget Thursday morning, May 14, and sent it to the full commission for passage in June with one exception. The Carroll County School general purpose fund and transportation budgets were held back, as the committee refused to approve a spending plan showing a $1.5 million deficit.
The rest of the budget passed unanimously.
“Once again, we have proposed a budget that is balanced and in the black, and we have not raised taxes, and we have not cut services, and we treated our employees more than fair,” Committee Chair Darrell Ridgely said of the rest of the budget.
School Budget Shows $1.5 Million Deficit
The Finance Committee rejected Carroll County Schools’ general purpose fund and transportation budgets. The school system projected a $1.5 million deficit for the coming fiscal year. Commissioner John Austin expressed concern about the drain of its fund balance.
“The fund balance is going to get to zero,” he said. “And that’s when they’re going to be looking at you guys as a commission to say, how are we going to fund it? And then you’re going to look at the taxpayers.”
Committee member Lana Suite noted the tension in approving the budget as submitted.
“If we approve this, then they have no incentive to do anything,” Suite said.
Ridgely said the committee has sent the school budget back before without result.
“We sent this back one year, if not two, and nothing much changes,” he said. “We just move some stuff around.”
Ridgely made clear that the committee’s patience with the school system is running out. He explained that more aggressive intervention is on the table if the school board does not act.
“There’s a reckoning day coming, and I intend to see to it that it happens sooner than later,” he said. “We’re going to have to step in and take it over with central finance and change the private act. I mean to do away with it if they’re not going to fix their problem.”
“They think we’re just going to hand them over a checkbook with a bunch of money, and it’s not going to happen,” he added. “If they can’t get it figured out, we’re going to get it figured out for them.”
Austin said he would not be on the commission when the crisis fully arrives, but warned those who will be.
“In two years, there will be a real issue,” he said. “And somebody’s going to walk into a humongous mess.”
The Superintendent Responds
Carroll County Schools Superintendent Johnny McAdams spoke with the Carroll County Observer following the meeting and offered context for the projected deficit.
McAdams said the two largest drivers of the shortfall are one-time capital expenses.
Approximately $400,000 is earmarked in the budget to replace roofs at the Carroll County Board of Education building and the Carroll County Technical Center. The school system set aside $435,000 for three new school buses. McAdams said buses now cost approximately $145,000 each.
“Those are not things that are reoccurring,” he said. “They’re one-time things over a short period of time.”
Insurance cost increases impact the budget as well. Across the board, liability, workers compensation, medical, and vehicle insurance, have gone up.
McAdams also explained that the school system has operated with significantly less local revenue of about $650,000 annually. Carroll County Schools receives less local tax revenue and TVA revenue sharing than before.
“We’ve operated with a lower amount of local revenue for the last several years,” he said. “We have been able to operate without that revenue, but it does cut into our fund balance.”
McAdams said he and the school board share the finance committee’s concerns and plan to discuss them at the May 19 meeting.
“We have those same concerns,” he said. “When you cut your revenue that much, everybody knew we were going to have to be taking money out of our fund balance to operate at the same level.”
The Carroll County School Board meets May 19 at 6 p.m. at 14155 Paris St. in Huntingdon.
Court Records Digitization
Before taking up the budget, Circuit Court Clerk Sarah Bradberry addressed the committee about digitizing court records from 1989 and prior.
She said there are approximately 60 banker boxes of records that are not safely preserved.
Bradberry presented two quotes for digitization services. One quote came in at around $97,000 and another at $50,000 from a company called Star Point.
Records from 1990 through 2014 are already archived, and the court management system in place since 2014 handles current records digitally.
Austin said the situation should never have been allowed to reach this point.
“Heaven forbid the courthouse catches fire again and we have no records,” He said. “I can’t believe that we don’t have everything archived. Every office from the Register of Deeds, Property Assessor, etc. should have something like this.”
Sheriff Andy Dickson said archiving issues extend beyond the clerk’s office.
The Sheriff’s Office has years of physical records stored in trailers and at outside locations, including the Gordon Browning Museum in McKenzie and the “coon hunters building”.
Ridgely said the committee would take Bradberry’s request under advisement once she receives the final quote from Star Point, expected next week.
The purchase would require a competitive bid process given the dollar amount.
Budget Amendments
The committee approved a package of year-end budget amendments covering multiple departments. Most were line-item transfers requiring no new funding.
Airport fuel sales have increased over the past year, creating an overage. The committee pulled funds from other airport expenditure items to cover the gap.
The sheriff’s department received several transfers to balance year-end line items, including an adjustment of $20,000 to cover gasoline due to rising fuel costs and a transfer to ensure overtime pay is covered through the end of the fiscal year.
Other amendments covered the civic center, Carroll County Library, Carroll Academy, health department, drug court, animal control, and the grant fund. All were line-item transfers or fund balance draws to cover year-end overages.
All amendments passed without discussion.
The full county commission will take up the budget for final passage in June.
