The fact that Clanton spends around $10 million might be surprising to some, but not to Janice Hull.

Hull, the city’s auditor, said the city took in almost $10 million in revenues while spending $9.5 million in fiscal year 2007-08.

The biggest part of Clanton’s revenues came from sales tax. That total was $5.5 million. From that number, Hull determined that people spent more than $100 million in Clanton last year.

“The City of Clanton is big business,” she said.

Permits and licenses made up about $1 million in revenue. Ad valorem taxes only made up $525,000, and taxes from alcohol sales totaled $375,000.

One of the larger expenditures of the year was to help lure Jefferson State Community College to come to Chilton County.

“I’m happy that we got the college to come, but something like that doesn’t come without a price,” she said.

More than $1 million was spent on site preparation, engineering and other infrastructure improvements at the site in addition to donating the land for the school and civic center.

While that was one of the larger items in last year’s fiscal year, the city still had a couple of other departments that cost the city as much or more.

About $1.6 million was allocated to the police department. Only one-tenth of the revenue came from police fines.

Another $1.3 million was used for the sanitation department, but Hull said garbage and water fees still weren’t enough to cover the whole bill.

The city also spent $95,000 on park improvements at the city park, city pool and E.M. Henry Park in West End.