Warren County is eyeing some large projects over the next year as fiscal court magistrates on Friday unanimously approved a first reading of the county’s budget for the next fiscal year that is substantially larger than last year.

The budget stands at a hair over $81.3 million – an increase over last year’s $69.5 million budget – representing the largest budget to date in the history of Warren County. County Treasurer Greg Burrell told the Daily News that the roughly $12 million increase accounts for around $3 million in normal operating expenses, along with some capital improvement projects.

“There (are) no new tax increases planned for the next fiscal year,” Burrell said. “Even as far as property tax – none of that has been approved yet, but we expect that to stay the same, if not lower.”

As far as capital projects go, further work to turn Sugar Maple Square into the new home for the Warren County Sheriff’s Office is budgeted at $3.5 million. Last week, the county approved a bid worth over $2 million to complete interior renovation work on Sugar Maple.

The county purchased Sugar Maple in 2021 for $1.4 million. Last December, the decision was made to move the Sheriff’s Office into the site and out of its current location at the county courthouse. Once finished, Sugar Maple will house WCSO’s dispatch center, training facilites, offices and other department operations.

Burrell said the money in the upcoming budget will go toward exterior renovations at the site, including asphalt resurfacing and striping, curb and gutter work and landscaping.

“We’re going to completely redo the exterior of the building,” he said. “We don’t really know what that’s going to cost yet, … as big as that building is, it could easily be a half million (dollars).

“I think it’ll come in a little less than $3.5 million,” he said.

As Warren County Public Schools continues work on the new Summit View Elementary School in the southern portion of the county, county government is eyeing a roundabout project on Bettersworth Road.

WCPS expects Summit View to open up in fall 2027. A “ballpark” of $1.5 million has been listed for the roundabout project, Burrell said, although the project itself is still in the preliminary stages.

Absent from the budget are plans for two properties the county previously purchased – the Charles M. Moore Insurance Building and some adjacent sites that were formerly home to a set of offices, including the Kerrick Bachert law firm and the local office for Sen. Rand Paul.

Magistrates last year approved the purchase of 1019, 1023 and 1029 State Street after a fire tore through the building. The structure was demolished after it was obtained by the county.

The Charles Moore building was acquired in December last year. During the flooding event that struck the county the first week of April, the building served as a temporary home for local government’s emergency response.

Ideas have floated of moving some county services out of the courthouse and into these properties, though no long-term plans are set yet.

“I do know that at some point we want to move forward with that project,” Burrell said. “… (But) they’re both eventually going to be part of the same project.”

Fiscal Court will meet again June 13.