The Warren County School District finds itself in the same boat as the rest of us as inflation wreaks havoc on our household budgets – find more revenue or spend less money.

Property assessments are shrinking in Warren County, which lessens the amount of revenue the district has coming in. At the same point, costs on nearly everything are going up at least 4% but possibly as high as 7%.

According to “very preliminary” five-year projections presented by Jim Grosch, Warren County School District business services director, the district faces about a $5.6 million deficit in the 2022-2023 school year.

Not raising taxes means the district would balance its budget with its savings — dropping the fund balance to $13 million at the end of the 2022-23 year. According to the preliminary projections, the fund balance – expected to be about $18 million at the end of this school year, will be at $1.6 million by 2024-25 and the district would not only have no fund balance, but have a $6 million deficit after the 2025-26 school year.

District officials have already said they wanted to keep any tax increase to 4.9%, which is the state-set index for the year.

School board members know taxpayers are struggling and have tried their best to hold the line on taxes over the years.

But unless its state aid increases, the district has two choices — either raise taxes over the state-set index or cut spending.

Neither choice is appealing, but the district should seriously consider plans to cut spending so that it doesn’t exhaust its fund balance.

Cutting spending is not easy and is full of difficult decisions. We hope taxpayers have an open mind when it comes time for the school district to present cost-cutting ideas.

Otherwise, get ready to pay more to continue the current path.