The Williston Public School District 7 Board approved a preliminary 2025-26 budget after administrators reported unexpectedly higher revenue from student enrollment and the retirement of a local tax increment financing (TIF) district. The board voted to submit the proposed budget to the county for calendar-year processing.

District business manager/finance lead Arnold told the board the district had counted an increase in students and discovered that one TIF district was no longer in effect, raising the district's taxable value. "Our taxable value went from about 0.66% to about 6.4%," Arnold said, adding that his presentation did not fully account for an approximate 380-student increase because the official count is Oct. 1. He said he conservatively included only about 225 additional students in the revenue estimate.

The preliminary budget keeps most spending levels near prior proposals while adding a small number of certified and hourly positions to respond to enrollment growth. Arnold said he removed a proposed special reserve levy and increased the tuition levy to help cover placements in specialized or out-of-district facilities; he reported that last year the district paid nearly $700,000 for tuition placements and had levied about $140,000 for that purpose.

Board members asked about projection assumptions for oil-and-gas revenue; Arnold said he reduced the budgeted oil-and-gas revenue because of industry uncertainty and said any additional oil-and-gas receipts would bolster the district fund balance rather than be spent immediately. He also noted a change in state law that limits annual levy growth to about 3%, which affects multi-year planning.

The board approved the preliminary budget in a roll-call vote. Superintendent Dr. Jermanson and Arnold said the budget is conservative by design to preserve fund balance for contingencies, to meet the board's fund-balance policy and to improve the district’s position for future borrowing.

The budget approval sends the proposal to the county for property-tax processing and sets the stage for the district’s October and November budget and audit steps.

The board will finalize the levy and adopt a final budget later in the fall after the state's official counts and other audits are complete.

Ending: The board approved the preliminary 2025-26 budget with staff emphasizing conservative spending and plans to revisit numbers after the Oct. 1 pupil count and the fiscal-year audit.