It’s budget season, a time when cities and counties look at that tricky balance between revenues – money coming in – and expenditures – paying for services that residents need.
The Kerr-Tar Council of Government budget, however, relies mostly on federal money to fund its programs.
And KTCOG Executive Director Diane Cox said recent uncertainty with federal agencies reducing workforce and closing whole programs, this year’s budget process was different than in years past.
“I’ve always taken the conservative approach when it came to our budget,” Cox said in an interview with WIZS.
The 2025-26 budget represents a decrease of more than $2 million from the current year budget and does not include any salary or cost of living increases. Cox is proposing a roughly $5.8 million budget and is hopeful that additional federal funding will be available. The 2024-25 amended budget was just more than $8.3 million.
“Over 90 percent of our funding at COG comes through the state but they’re federal funds,” Cox explained.
“No one’s saying anything yet,” she said. “The state folks haven’t heard from that federal folks what those funds are going to look like.” So until then, Cox and the KTCOG staff wait.
“It’s sort of a wait and see position that we’re in,” she said. “We’re preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.”
One area that she’s particularly concerned about is the Area Agency on Aging, which relies on mostly federal funds. As of Friday, there had been no notice that the grant funding will be coming.
“This is the first year in the 14 or 15 years that I’ve been here that we’ve gone into the budget season without some initial numbers,” she said. For that reason, she said the budget is “very conservative” and included an across-the-board decrease.
The Area Agency on Aging programs provide services for the senior centers in all five counties, as well as their in-home aide programs, among others.
Since the pandemic, the KTCOG has provided assistance to many local governments in the region in some form or another.
Cox said while she and her staff wait for word on grant funding, KTCOG will continue to provide services and programs for the region – there’s a disaster recovery and relief expo on Thursday, June 12 at the VGCC Civic Center, which will provide information to community groups and individuals about how to cope in the event of a disaster.
“We have always had a much larger budget at the end of the year than we do at the beginning of the year” because the COG receives grant funding throughout the year.
So, while our budget may look much lower than what our current budget is, the hope (is) – and I pray – that there will be several budget amendments,” Cox said, allowing for the provision of more service.
