The Warren County Board of Supervisors discussed this week the transfer of $1.5 million from the county Gaming Fund to the Warren County Road Department.

The gaming fund is the result of revenues that are given to cities and counties that have gaming operations such as casinos.

“We get an amount every year and set it aside (for expenses), and it had actually gotten down during COVID-19, but the fund seems to have stabilized again, and it’s there for us to use at our discretion,” Board President Kelle Barfield said. “One issue, that of course we didn’t address much of during the three-year COVID period and all the after-effects of supply chain and then the low water levels last year, (is road department projects).”

The current 2023 Warren County Paving Program is well underway, funded by $2 million in American Relief Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The plan includes overlays on paved roads and the installation of double-bituminous surface treatment, or DBST, on unpaved roads in the county.

Due to weather challenges and supply chain issues, the county’s 2022 DBST program was not completed. The 2023 program includes DBST overlays for roads listed in both the 2022 and 2023 plans.

“Weather permitting and supply chain permitting, we’ve been very aggressive on overlays of existing paved roads and DBST paving of gravel roads,” Barfield said. “And so (allocating the Gaming Fund dollars) is simply an opportunity, like we always do, to use other funding sources or revenue that come from other sources to keep the projects going without raising the millage of individual taxpayers.”

The Board of Supervisors will vote on allocating $1.5 million from the Gaming Fund to the road department at its next regular meeting on Aug. 7.