Clinton City Schools aim debt-free by 2030
The total debt for Clinton City Schools is $694,000.
Scott Rhea, chief financial officer for the school system, gave this information at the Aug. 25 Clinton City Council meeting.
“So we’re in pretty good shape,” he said. “Debt free in five years.”
Of that, Rhea told The Courier News, $160,200 was for a Clinton Elementary School construction project in 2000, and $534,000 for another CES project.
He said the audited fund balance from the 2023-2024 period was $7,040,000.
However, he told The Courier News that he expected a $700,000 year-end, putting the total fund balance closer to $7.7 million.
He also said the city took over debt from around 2012 on work at South Clinton Elementary School.
Clinton City Schools made its last payment for that in 2019. The debt related to structural repairs, new roofing, and new HVAC units at SCES completed in 2012.
The school system, he said, had paid off its two energy-efficiency loans.
It still has to pay off some of the $1 million it borrowed for the 2020 Clinton Elementary School addition.
With school nutrition, he said the fund balance was $386,000, with a projected $15,000 surplus.
“Slowly but surely, the team has worked hard to kind of turn that program around,” he said he said, regarding its fund balance. He said the service was still good, calling it a “win for everyone.”
“We’ve come a long way,” said Mayor Scott Burton, regarding the school system’s fiscal shape.
In the next year, however, Rhea said the school system would spend over $1 million on a CES playground and auditorium, as well as roofing and air conditioning.
“It’s going to hit us,” he said of future debt and expenses.
“And it can hit at a pretty good clip as you know.
“But it’s nice to have that fund balance and do things on our terms.”
