Rumors have been swirling around Clinton about where the $790,000 projected Board of Education surplus will end up going. The Board of Education (BOE) announced earlier this month that $167,191 will go toward capital projects, with the remaining $622,000 being returned to the town.

"It is a bigger pot we're able to return than we anticipated, which is a good thing," said Superintendent of Schools Jack Cross.

The projection comes from a number of areas. The most significant number was employee medical, which showed a $475,000 surplus due to the change in medical premium design plan and prescription self-insurance plan design. Cross said there was a reduction due to one employee's opting for no insurance coverage as well as the movement of 14 employees with couple coverage-10 switched to single and four switched to family.

The salaries line item shows $200,000 in projected surplus due to changes in personnel from the 2010-'11 school year. Ten certified employees retired, along with four classified retirements and various resignations district-wide.

Cross said the majority of the surplus comes from the contract negotiations the BOE has been doing over the past couple years, while personnel is an area over which the board has little control.

"The biggest portion is really related to the work that we've done over the last couple years regarding our health insurance plan. We've been negotiating with each of our bargaining units a change in the plan design for the main insurance plan that most folks take advantage of," Cross said. "The other part, other than the plan design piece, was the fact that after the budget process was done in terms of going to referendum, we ended up with 17 teacher changes-retirement and/or people leaving."

Due to the mild winter, a projected $100,000 surplus comes from heating fuel and gas. Other reductions come from a $40,000 drop from a new copier contract and a $38,000 surplus for liability insurance. Due to the lack of snow, there is a $12,000 surplus in snow plowing.

Cross also said there were two areas that showed an increase-$25,000 in electricity and $50,000 in regular transportation, which were both due to high gas and diesel costs.

Capital projects will begin as soon as this summer and include safety and maintenance, and security expenditures, as well as educational and instructional support.

"These are things that were emergent that weren't on the radar originally and have become more of a particular issue," the superintendent said.

At the Joel School, lighting upgrades in parking lots and walkways and windows for the music room will get $34,500. At Eliot, $55,000 will go toward a boiler upgrade and hot water heater replacement. Camera upgrades district-wide will account for $41,500 of the surplus and upgrades to technology, including 35 classroom workstations at Joel, six mounted Smart Boards at Eliot, and five iPads for the reading room at Pierson, will cost $36,191,.

"The cameras were not something that we had put originally in our capital budget, but...we found spots that had holes in our coverage and this will fill those holes," Cross stated. "The technology are things that will ultimately have an impact in future capital requests because these are all ancillary supporting things that are collectively in future capital plans for technology.

Clinton Finance Director Kevin Kane said the remaining $622,000 will go right back to the town.

"It goes right in the general fund balance of the town," Kane said.