Cox Said Warren Fund Balance Healthy

Warren County Schools Director Bobby Cox said the system should be able to weather COVID-19 with a healthy fund balance of over $5 million.

“But actually you will probably have closer to eight million because if you look at our amended budget for what we’re actually going to spend because we’ve not been in school, you know, we probably put back about three and a half million back into reserves,” Cox said.

Cox said the reserves proved critical as the system dealt with COVID-19 and uncertainty about a long shutdown.

“Having those reserves there and I want us to keep our people paid and employed while they’re working at home and while they’re out,” Cox said. “I think that that’s helped quite a bit.”

The school board approved the system’s new fiscal year budget Monday night. County commissioners will begin their consideration in June. How the COVID-19 shutdown affects sales tax revenues remains the biggest question. Cox said state officials do not have many answers right now.

“I would expect that we would probably see a deficit this year in sales tax,” Cox said. “But, you know, that’s that’s probably to be expected as most things were closed down, you know, over the month of March and early April, well, almost all of April.”