The South Central Kentucky Workforce Board’s executive committee on Tuesday questioned a budget showing program expenses for workforce services.

The budget shows only about 22 percent of program money has been spent with just three months left in the fiscal year.

The numbers show $526,667.65 spent out of a total $3.5 million federal budget, of which about $2.4 million is program money. The budget also shows $33,725.34 spent in March for programs and $46,099.25 spent in March for personnel costs.

Sharon Woods, workforce director for the Barren River Area Development District, said the budget presented doesn’t reflect other program expenses BRADD has incurred during the fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2015, to June 30. Those expenses, among others, include the second year of scholarships BRADD gives to local high school students to attend Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College. They are encumbrances because the money isn’t spent yet.

Woods said later Tuesday that the scholarship money is rolled over from one fiscal year to the next because BRADD doesn’t believe the new fiscal year money will arrive in time.

“It’s a safety net,” BRADD Executive Director Rodney Kirtley said Tuesday when contacted by the Daily News after the meeting. “We don’t want to take a chance on a student not receiving the money.”

One issue that affects the budgeting, Kirtley said, is the federal fiscal year is Oct. 1 through Sept. 30 while the state fiscal year is July 1 though June 30.

Workforce board Chairman Ron Sowell asked to meet with Woods and also executive committee member Wayne Goodrum to further fine-tune the budget to reflect actual expenses. That budget will then show how much money is left to allocate in the 2015 fiscal year.

“That 22 percent is a concern,” Sowell said after the meeting. “We would expect to see 75 percent of the funds expended. We still don’t have the reports that we need.”

As to the formation of the new workforce board itself, Sowell said progress is being made.

He said the key is getting the consultant on board to help with long-range strategic planning and a director to implement programs.

Public and private sector officials have expressed concern about filling existing and anticipated jobs in the region, one hot spot in Kentucky where nearly $1 billion in new projects was announced last year by the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce.

The full workforce board meets at 8 a.m. Thursday at the Franklin campus of SKyCTC. The executive board on Tuesday met in a BRADD conference room in Bowling Green.

The full board is expected to approve a request to Kentucky workforce officials of $50,000 in transition funds, approve a request for proposal for a consultant to work with the board to advertise for and find a director.

The director will oversee the workforce board and the nonprofit 501(c)(3) board, which will have the mission to seek workforce money from the private sector.

“There are millions of dollars out there,” Woods told the executive committee.

Woods said the budget she prepared for the executive committee does not reflect some of the circumstances surrounding the money.

For example, BRADD, which currently is the fiscal agent for the new workforce board, receives 25 percent of its funds in July and 75 percent in October.

The Local Elected Officials board, the 10 county judge-executives in the region, is currently advertising for a fiscal agent to serve the workforce board.

The executive committee for the workforce board will next meet at 9 a.m. May 19, with the site yet to be determined.

— Follow business reporter Charles A. Mason on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.