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Board approves FY2526 trustee financial summaries and FY2627 budgets; mills adjusted amid rising taxable valuations
Summary
Trustees approved trustee financial summaries for FY2526 and adopted FY2627 budgets for elementary and high school. Officials reported transportation fund shortfalls that required reserve draws, a $32,000 transfer to food services, and a decrease in elementary mills from 98.05 to 87.89 driven by valuation increases and state changes.
The Whitehall School District board reviewed and approved trustee financial summaries for fiscal year 2526 and adopted the district’s budgets for fiscal year 2627 for both the elementary and high‑school districts.
Administrators walked trustees through balance sheets and fund reports, explaining that the transportation fund for the district exceeded revenues in FY2526 and used reserves to balance expenditures. To prevent repeated reserve depletion, the budget increases transportation mills for the coming year and adjusts mills where necessary. The presenter noted that fuel price unpredictability makes transportation budgeting especially volatile.
The presenter said the district transferred $32,000 from the general fund into the school food services fund to provide a $4,000 seed balance for the new year because food costs remain elevated. The tuition fund (fund 13) was described as largely a pass‑through for special‑education service payments and out‑of‑district tuition; bus depreciation for an older activity bus was reported as fully depreciated in the prior year.
On the elementary budget, the presenter reported a taxable valuation increase and current K–8 enrollment of about 310, saying the recommended total mills would be 87.89, down from 98.05 the previous year because of valuation increases and recent legislative restructuring of property‑tax contributions. The presenter cautioned that a reduction in school mills does not guarantee an overall reduction in a homeowner’s property tax bill because county or other levies may change.
For the high school, trustees were told the district’s taxable valuation also rose modestly and that the high‑school transportation fund’s low ending balance required a mills increase; trustees approved the high‑school budget as presented. Both budgets and the trustee financial summaries were approved by voice votes; roll‑call tallies were not recorded in the transcript.
