$24.8M (p, 11-16) will be added to the Beaufort County FY26 budget after it was already passed. This carry over will increase the Capital Projects budget by an additional 31%, the Special Revenues budget by 8%, and the General Fund budget by <1%. The previous budget carry over added to the FY25 budget (p.31) was $4.5M, over $20M less than the current proposed carry over.
The County Council Finance Committee first discussed the $24.8M carry over from FY25 in their August 18, 2025 meeting. This meeting was followed in quick succession by two readings at the August 20 and September 8 County Council meetings. Both readings passed unanimously.
It is standard practice to carry over open purchase orders or contracts into a new budget year when funds were already committed in the prior year. At the August 18 Finance Committee meeting (11:00), Councilman York Glover asked why this year’s carry over was so large. County Administrator Michael Moore replied that the new CFO is now following proper accounting procedures. Councilman Passiment added that in previous years, old purchase orders were often canceled and then re-created in the new budget. However, the central question—why such a large sum is being added to a budget that was already approved, effectively increasing the total by about 10%, as Glover noted—was never answered. During the subsequent County Council readings, there was no discussion, only unanimous votes to approve the carry over.
The FY26 budget already includes a 27% increase in the General Fund budget. The Capital Projects and Special Revenues budgets did decrease in the original budget, but are now being increased again. In past budget cycles, the carry over from one budget year to the next was presented to County Council at the same time the new budget was passed and was included in the considerations of increases and decreases in the different budget funds.
The hope for increased transparency that Beaufort Insider reported on in January does not seem to be aging well. The taxpayers of Beaufort County have the same questions that Councilman York Glover posed on August 18, and they should be provided with clear answers.
Beaufort Insider is working to cut through the noise to get answers from County officials and Council members. When updates are available, we will make sure our readers know.