At the midpoint of the year, the budget in the Clinton School district is surprisingly in good shape.

The district was projecting a deficit for this year's budget at around $1.5-million, but according to Superintendent Dr. Jeff Holmes, things right now are projecting to shape up nicely. Dr. Holmes says the one area of the budget that is the most encouraging is their expenditures. He explains this time of year, expenditures should be at 50%, but Dr. Holmes credits the work of his administrators and teachers of keeping those down.

[audio:11713midbudget1.mp3] [/audio]

Over the summer, the high school received some energy efficiency upgrades, and they recently switched electrical providers. Dr. Holmes feels those upgrades are beginning to pay off already and he says the electrical provider switch is is keeping those costs down as well.

[audio:11713midbudget2.mp3] [/audio]

Most of the expenses the district has get purchased during the first half of the year. Dr. Holmes says there is always salaries and benefits on the budget, but those are already accounted for in the second half of the year. He hopes they can maintain around a 43%-45% expenditure in the second half, which would greatly reduce that $1.5-million deficit.

[audio:11713midbudget3.mp3] [/audio]

Revenues look good in the district as well. Dr. Holmes says local revenues are right where they thought they would be. He says state and federal money will continue to come in to the district throughout the rest of the year.