Chilton County’s Board of Education approved a budget for the upcoming fiscal year at its meeting Sept. 15.

The $86 million budget calls for revenue and expenditures of about $68 million, about flat compared to the previous budget.

The remainder of the budget is fixed assets.

Chief Financial Officer Steve Yeargan said that as he prepared the budget, there were lingering concerns about an unexpected decrease in sales tax and the state Legislature taking money from the Education Trust Fund to close a gap in the General Fund.

“I try to be conservative,” Yeargan said.

Yeargan said he expects the school system to have $7 million in reserve by the end of the budget year.

Enrollment has seen an increase of about 100 to about 7,650 students this academic year.

The school system employs about 840 faculty, staff and administrators.

The budget also accounts for Superintendent of Education Tommy Glasscock’s primary capital goal in the next two years: replacing roofs.

About $4 million has been dedicated to the replacing roofs.

A new roof was recently installed at Chilton County High School, work has begun on a roof at Jemison High School; and Maplesville, Thorsby and Verbena are also in line for new roofs over the next two years.

Public hearings for the proposed budget were held Sept. 8 and 15, at the board meeting. Glasscock said there was no public input.

About 75 percent of revenue comes from the state and are used to pay salaries and benefits, about 17 percent comes from local sales and ad valorem taxes and the rest are federal funds.

 

In other business, the board:

•Approved payrolls and account payables.

•Approved financial statements and bank reconciliations for the central office as presented by Yeargan.

•Approved minutes from the August meeting.

•Approved a Five-Year Capital Plan.

•Approved special education program requests.

•Approved leave requests for Lacy Rebecca Brown of Jemison Elementary School from Aug. 27 to Oct. 22; and for Maria Porter of Clanton Elementary School, to extend the return to work date to Sept. 8.

•Approved homebound services.

•Approved personnel actions, including new employees, the transfer of employees, the substitute list and the appointment of Walter Fenn as assistant superintendent at the salary of $88,000 per year, effective Aug. 1.

•Approved the nomination of Mike Oakley of Bibb County as the district director of the Alabama Association of School Boards, District 2.

•Approved technology department requests.

•Approved placing a Maplesville student at the PASS Academy for the remainder of the school year.