By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

The current chief school financial officer with Hartselle City Schools will fill the same role with the Alabaster School system after she was hired by the Alabaster School Board during a Jan. 22 meeting.

During the meeting, the board voted unanimously to hire Sarita Tapscott as its chief school financial officer. Tapscott was hired on a three-year contract, and will make a $92,000-per-year salary, said Alabaster Interim School Superintendent Dr. Phillip Hammonds.

“Nothing is more important to a school district than to make sure its financial house is in order,” Hammonds said, noting the city received “several applications” for the position.

According to her resumé, Tapscott has been serving as CSFO with Hartselle City Schools since February 2007. Before working with Hartselle, Tapscott served as the director of accounting at Calhoun Community College, the assistant director of student financial services at Athens State University and an account examiner with the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts.

“I’m excited about what’s coming,” Tapscott said. “To me, it’s a challenge to start a system from the ground up.”

Over the past several weeks, the Alabaster BOE has been working one day a week with former Pell City CSFO Mara Walls to help set up the district’s first bank account and purchase finance-related software and hardware.

During the Jan. 22 meeting, the Alabaster School Board also voted to assume possession of funds in the city’s school fund, which is fed by revenues from a 1-cent sales tax increase passed by the City Council in 2011.

Until now, the city has monitored the account, which is accessible only by the School Board.

“I think we would be remiss if we didn’t thank the city for all the financial support they have issued,” said BOE member Tyrone Quarles.

Alabaster City Administrator George Henry recently said the school fund contained about $3.8 million through December 2012, which was slightly higher than the city projected for the fund’s first year.