Beaufort County Schools will receive a slight increase in funding from the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners in fiscal year 2017-18.

The commissioners passed their budget at the June 12 board meeting. The county budget allotted $14,587,005 for BCS’ current expenses, $330,195 of in-cash capital funds, $659,700 for financed capital and a one-time $125,000 fund for technology upgrades.

FY 2017-18 funding came in at an approximately 2.7-percent increase over 2016-17 funding, or a little more than $411,000, according to the approved budget.

“We gave them the same amount of capital that we gave them last year. We just did it in a different way,” Beaufort County Manager Brian Alligood said.

Last year, the county allotted its capital funding solely in cash, but the 2017-18 budget splits the funds between in-cash and financed capital, which allows for larger projects to be completed. Another significant change was the inclusion of the $125,000 one-time fund for technology upgrades for the school system, according to Alligood.

That allocation was not originally included in the recommended budget, but Commissioner Ron Buzzeo requested for the measure to be added into capital funding, as he was concerned about the schools keeping up with needed technological upgrades, Alligood said.

“The 125K for technology will help us, but we will have to allocate a significant portion of the remaining capital allotment to maintain our current technology efforts. Our capital request was 400K for technology,” Dr. Don Phipps, BCS superintendent, wrote in an email.

Despite a now-solid number from the county, Phipps said there remain many unknowns for the school district, as the North Carolina General Assembly has yet to nail down a budget of its own. BCS receives funding from the local, state and federal levels.

“We still have to see the state budget to know the impact going into 2017-18. Things that happen at the state level can impact us on the local side, and we just don’t know those details yet. We should know by the end of the week,” Phipps wrote. “Our board will have to meet to determine which of the projects included on the capital list will be completed, based on the allocated amount from the county.”

Phipps said he was unable to give details, but he expects “significant cuts” will need to be made to the 2017-18 capital request list.

Education funding accounts for more than 30 percent of the Beaufort County budget.

“Overall, education is our highest-funded source,” Alligood said, adding that education includes the school system and Beaufort County Community College, which requested an 11.3-percent increase in funding. “It’s mandated by the state of North Carolina.”