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By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

The Chilton County Board of Education held its first of two budget hearings on July 23.

The meeting gave the board and the public a chance to review the proposed budget for the 2020 fiscal year which begins Oct. 1, 2019.

A second public hearing will be held on Aug. 30 to give the public another chance to hear the information and make comments.

Total revenues are projected to be $68,596,565. Expenditures are budgeted at $68,505,207.

Revenues from the state department to the school system are expected to increase slightly to $48,359,263, according to Chief School Financial Officer LaVerne Williams.

The school system expects to receive $8,145,612 in federal funds related to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, preschool, Career Tech, Title I, Title II, TILE IV, English language learner funds and USDA payments for the child nutrition program.

Local revenue is anticipated to be $11,501,201.

Based on the students that attended Chilton County Schools last year, the school system will receive funding for seven additional teachers, bringing the total to 438.

The budget also includes federal funding for 31.99 positions. Local funds will be used for 7.5 positions.

Williams said many school systems have to use local funds for a lot more positions, sometimes up to 30, to have the desired number of staff. Williams said it was a good thing that CCS did not need to use local funds for more positions.

The school system has 544 employees.

The budget is based ion 7,668 students expected to attend the school system next year.

Williams said the school system will continue to keep two months operating budget in reserve.

The budget proposal also includes continuing to grow the general fund to about $4.5 million.

During the meeting on July 23, department heads presented information on the proposed budget for their department. Board members asked questions during the presentation with a time for public comments at the end.

The board did not discuss possible capital projects at the meeting because the committee had not met. However, the budget includes $362,246 for capital projects. A budget amendment would be used to add the specific projects to the budget. The capital projects committee plans to meet this week.

The school system will also be paying $1.9 million toward paying off debt, according to the proposal. This includes school buses that are being leased and other debt.

The school system is projected to pay off one of the bus leases in 2021.