The Demopolis City Schools Board of Education held their first of two budget hearings Friday morning, and presented a preliminary budget for those in attendance.

Board CFO Evelyn James presented the budget, and the system expects $20.2 million in expenditures for the 2014 fiscal year.

The system will begin the year with $6.2 million in reserves, and they anticipate $18.6 million in revenue, leaving $4.5 million in reserves at the end of the 2014 fiscal year.

“We are spending down our reserves to reinvest in the children with the technology upgrades and other upgrades to the schools,” Superintendent Dr. Al Griffin said. “We’ve done a good job building our reserves the last couple years. There’s great people here who stay in town to shop that have helped us do that.”

Revenues for the system break down into four categories: state sources, federal sources, local sources and other sources.

The system anticipates $12.57 million from state sources, $1.78 million from federal sources, $4.27 million from local sources and $873,429 from other sources.

Most of the expected expenditures are for instructional purposes, which directly affect the classrooms. Fifty-five percent of the expenditures are for this purpose. Another 14 percent for instructional support makes up the two largest expenditures for the year.

The second and final budget hearing will take place during the Monday, Sept. 16 board meeting, and the board will vote to approve the budget during that meeting. The meeting will begin at 5:15 p.m.