The Chilton County Board of Education held the first of two public hearings Sept. 5 to discuss the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2013–2014.

Chief Financial Officer Steve Yeargan provided board members with packets containing the proposed annual budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30, 2014.

The proposed budget for the 2013–2014 fiscal year is about $66 million plus a $12.8 million fund balance reserve, Yeargan said.

As of Sept. 30 this year, Yeargan projected the board to have a balance of $6.5 million in the general fund.

Starting Oct. 1, Yeargan said he projected the board would operate in credit negative of about $1.7 million, which means expenses would be more than revenues by about $1.7 million during the coming fiscal year.

Yeargan projected the board would end the fiscal year on Sept. 30, 2014, with nearly $4.8 million in the general fund, about $4 million of which would be the amount in reserve as required by the state.

Subtracting the $4 million reserve from the $4.8 million balance in the general fund would create a balance of more than $600,000 at the end of the upcoming fiscal year, including schools’ E-Rate funds for technology in the classroom.

“Just having that reserve is a good thing,” Chilton County Schools Superintendent Dave Hayden said. “A lot of schools don’t have it.”