By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

Chilton County Board of education has adopted a Financial Operations Manual during a special called meeting on March 10.

School Superintendent Tommy Glasscock said the school system had previously used the state’s document rather than having a locally developed one.

The document outlines the financial policies and procedures for the school system including authorization procedures, segregation of duties, documentation procedures, accounting procedures, security measures, payment procedures and travel reimbursement policy.

In the document, the budget process is also outlined. initial budget dates will be selected by the chief school financial officer and the school superintendent. Budget requests from the various departments and schools will be due at that time. The first draft of the budget will be prepared by the CSFO and discussed with the superintendent and staff before being submitted to the board of education for approval.

“Two public hearings shall be held on the budget and input from the public shall be solicited and reviewed before the budget is approved by the Board,” according to the Financial Operations Manual for the Chilton County Board of Education.

The policy manual does not address recent discussions about an updated salary schedule. Updates to the salary schedule will be discussed after a comprehensive salary study is completed.

The board of education also approved an installment plan with Mercedes-Benz Financial Services to borrow funds for school buses. The agreement was reviewed by the school board attorney prior to being approved.  Since the school buses had actually been paid for when they were delivered, the school board passed a reimbursement resolution, which allows the school board to put the borrowed funds into the line item that paid for the buses.