The Cullman County School Board approved the upcoming year’s budget Thursday afternoon, with $88.9 million in revenues and $84.9 million in general fund expenditures projected for the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

The board held its second required budget hearing during Thursday’s meeting before voting to approve the budget for the upcoming year, with Chief School Financial Officer Ed Roberson going over the details of the budget before the vote.

Total revenues for the general fund, which is the operating fund that includes most of the system’s payroll and bills, is expected to be $88.9 million, he said. That includes $65.1 million in revenue from the state, $23.4 million from local revenues and the small remainder coming from other sources.

Of the local revenues, the system should see around $7.7 million from property taxes and $15 million from local sales taxes, Roberson said.

The total expenditures for the general fund are projected to be $84.9 million for the coming year, with nearly 90 percent of the expenditures paying for the system’s personnel, Roberson said.

“Us being a school system, the majority of our expenses come in salaries and benefits,” he said.

He said $51.7 million of the general fund expenditures are going to instructional services, with another $15.2 million going to instructional support services. Other expenditures include $7.7 million for operations and maintenance, $5.2 million for transportation and $3 million for administrative services.

The general fund personnel expenditures will pay for the salaries and benefits for most of the system’s 1101 full-time employees.

Most of those units, 935.38, will be paid using state sources, and 36.24 units will be paid using local sources. Another 129.54 personnel units, mainly the system’s cafeteria workers and special education personnel, will be paid by federal funds.

The system will have 604 teachers, 23 librarians, 22 counselors, 37 administrators, 16 certified support personnel and 367 support personnel.

The system also has a few capital projects included in the budget that will be beginning this year, including a classroom addition and lunchroom at Hanceville Elementary School, a new media center, offices and gym for Good Hope Middle School and a new gym for Cold Springs High School, Roberson said.

Other projects like replacing window air conditioning units, installing HVAC systems in high school gyms and upgrading lighting and HVAC systems at schools around the county have been in progress and should be completed soon, he said.

At the end of the fiscal year, the system should have a general fund balance of $20.66 million, which is fantastic for the system and is thanks to the management by the members of the board and the superintendent, Roberson said.

“This is a good time for Cullman County Schools,” he said. “We’ve got the ability to do some things that we haven’t done in years, and that’s because of these people sitting right here in front of us.”