DALTON, Ga. — Dalton Board of Education members won’t vote on a final fiscal year 2018 budget until June, but city residents will get a chance to look at the latest draft of that budget Tuesday.

Board members will hold a public hearing on the budget at their regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

“We will have a PowerPoint presentation,” said Superintendent Jim Hawkins. “People will be able to look into the process. We aren’t going to have a final budget on Tuesday. What we will have is the latest draft, and the public will have a chance to make comments.”

The 2018 fiscal year starts July 1.

Board members and staff met Tuesday night at the school system annex in a work session to discuss the budget.

One key item the board members decided is to limit the amount of the school system’s fund balance that will be drawn down to cover any budget deficit. Board members suggested a range of $966,000 to about $1.5 million as the maximum amount they would like to see drawn from the fund balance.

Chief Financial Officer Theresa Perry says both would leave the school system with a fund balance of about $11 million at the end of fiscal 2018. Officials have said they need to keep a fund balance of at least $10 million to cover any cash flow issues and to handle any unexpected spending needs.

Board member Steve Laird said drawing the fund balance below $10 million could require the system to raise property taxes next year.

Perry said anticipated revenue for 2018 is $73.3 million, with $43.5 million of that coming from the state and federal governments and the rest from local property taxes, tuition and other fees. Spending for this fiscal year is budgeted at $71.2 million.

In addition to setting a limit on use of the fund balance, board members said they would like to see purchases for some teacher technology devices shifted to Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) funds from the general budget. They also asked that some teaching positions for fourth and fifth grade that were scheduled to be added next year be delayed to future years.

“We’ve given them some budget directives, told them what is important to us and asked them what other efficiencies they can find,” said board Chairman Rick Fromm.