The Warren County Commission voted in January to approve a $35 million budget for 2023, including giving 6 percent raises to all county employees and elected officials.

This is the second year in a row of sizable pay increases to county employees and elected officials, which county commissioners say is necessary to keep up with inflation and provide competitive salaries. Warren County raised employee pay by 5 percent in 2022.

Commissioners said they granted an additional 6 percent raise this year so that the county government could continue providing a sustainable income for all employees.

This year’s budget for county expenses is about $5.7 million more than 2022, which commissioners say is enabled both by growth in county tax revenue, and also by millions of dollars in federal grant and unspent COVID relief funds. Warren County is starting off the year with $17 million in surplus funding saved in its various accounts.

One of the county’s largest expenses this year will be construction of a new industrial road connecting to Veterans Memorial Parkway west of Foristell. The project is in partnership with meat packing company American Foods Group. Warren County is receiving $7.7 million in federal grant funding, filtered through the state government, to aid in construction of the road. 

Commissioners told The Record that the actual road construction and engineering for the road will be done by contractors hired by American Foods Group as part of that company’s ongoing project to build a beef processing facility in Warren County.

In addition to that new federal funding, commissioners said the county also still retains $3.4 million in unallocated COVID relief funds provided through the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

Warren County also has more than $4 million budgeted to its road and bridge fund this year. Along with equipment and supply costs for the county’s road department, commissioners said they are planning to do new road paving on Carter Lane and Pickney Street, along with other road work on Pleasant Hill, North Stracks Church Road and Westmead.

The county sheriff’s department has about $7.3 million in expenses budgeted for this year, supported in part by about $2.5 in revenue from an extra half-cent sales tax approved by Warren County voters several years ago.

Out of the sheriff department’s total budget, about $4.5 million will go to the road patrol and investigative division, while $2.7 million will go to the division that operates the Warren County Jail and provides courthouse security.

About $8.8 million in expenses are budgeted for the county’s general operating fund, which pays for the large majority of Warren County’s other daily operations.

If the county carries out all of its budgeted spending for 2023, it would reduce the county’s surplus funding from $17 million down to $7 million. However, the county rarely spends its entire budget; last year the county commission budgeted a $6 million deficit, and instead ended the year with a $3 million surplus.