This November, voters decide whether to replace the expiring 37-cent school referendum with a new one that could rise toward a 57-cent ceiling. If approved, on a typical $350,000 home the referendum itself would add about $19 a month once fully phased in. A separate 2025 state law is lowering bills at the same time — so your total may not rise much — but that's a different thing from what the referendum costs. Here's both, kept straight.
The 57¢ rate is not in effect. It goes before voters on November 3, 2026. The current rate is 37¢ (approved in 2018), and it expires at the end of 2026. What's on the ballot:
This page estimates the cost if approved, so a voter can weigh it. It takes no position on how to vote.
Every number on this page rests on a mix of established facts, deliberate assumptions, and things nobody knows yet. Rather than bury that, here it is up front. The most consequential assumption is the rate path: the district committed only to a ceiling on how fast the rate can rise, not a year-by-year plan, so we model the fastest version they allowed — which means our figures are the most a taxpayer could be charged in any year, not a prediction.
Because we model the fastest allowed rate path, our figures sit at the high end of what's possible. If the district phases in more slowly, the early-year costs would be lower than shown.
The Noblesville Schools Board of Trustees voted unanimously on June 9, 2026 to put an updated operating referendum on the November ballot. The current referendum — approved in 2018 at 37 cents per $100 of assessed value — expires at the end of 2026. If nothing replaces it, the district says roughly $25 million a year, about a fifth of its operating budget, goes away.
The new rate is higher than 2018's because of Senate Enrolled Act 1, the 2025 state property-tax law that cut school revenue. The district says it needs a higher ceiling to raise a comparable amount of money — and that it does not plan to levy the full 57 cents right away.
The honest way to measure what the referendum costs is to compare, in the same year, the bill at the new rate against the bill at the old 37¢ rate — changing only the rate, holding deductions the same. That's the referendum's true price: about $19/mo at the full 57¢ rate on a $350,000 home, growing from a couple of dollars in the first year.
Both facts are real and they don't cancel each other out conceptually — they're answers to different questions. The referendum has a genuine cost (~$19/mo at the cap). Your total bill may still not rise (because of SEA 1). A version of this page that only showed the flat total would hide the referendum's cost; one that only showed the $19 would imply a bill increase you may not see. The calculator shows both.
Enter your home's assessed value. The left figure is what the referendum itself costs that year (the rate change, isolated). The right figure is how your total referendum bill compares to 2026, which includes the separate SEA 1 deduction relief.
Deductions follow the statutory SEA 1 schedule (IC 6-1.1-12-37 & 37.5): standard deduction $48k→$0 by 2031, supplemental 40%→66.7%. "What the referendum costs" compares the planned rate to the old 37¢ rate in the same year, isolating the rate change. "Total vs. 2026" compares against the 2026 bill and so includes SEA 1's deduction relief. On the rate path: the district committed to "no more than 4¢ per year, capping at 57¢." The schedule shown is the fastest allowed path — +4¢/year (37→41→45→49→53→57), reaching the cap in 2031 and flat after — which is the most you could be charged in any year. The district may phase in more slowly, in which case the early-year costs would be lower; they did not publish a year-by-year schedule. Assessed value is held constant unless you choose a growth assumption above (off by default); the How-It-Works page adds a fixed-deduction comparison.
| Year | Rate | Ref. cost/mo | Total bill/mo | vs 2026 |
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Two official references settle the open questions. The DLGF Referendum Impact Calculator computes the burden at the maximum rate — it should match the "57¢ cap" figures here. And the certified ballot language, once Hamilton County finalizes it, must state both the 57-cent maximum and an estimated average annual increase. Hold any campaign claim — for or against — against those two documents.
Your Indiana tax statement (form TS-1) doesn't print a line that says "operating referendum" — it's bundled into the school taxes, so it's easy to miss. Two things to know:
Those are the certified 2025-pay-2026 rates for Noblesville Schools. The 37¢ operating referendum is what's on November's ballot and what this page models. The 8¢ referendum debt is an older, separate construction-bond levy (2010/2013) that runs through 2032 and is not on the ballot — but it's bundled with the operating referendum on your bill, totaling 45¢.
On the bill itself, the dollar figure appears in Table 2, on the "upward adjustment due to voter-approved projects and charges (e.g., referendum)" line — that's the combined 45¢ (both pieces), since referendum charges sit above the 1% cap. To isolate the operating referendum this page is about, take 37/45 of that figure. You can verify the certified rates in the Hamilton County Auditor's 2026 School Referendum Rates document.