Hamilton Southeastern Schools will recommend a lower HSE referendum tax rate for 2027 than officials projected earlier this year, after Hamilton County government delivered better-than-expected assessed valuation numbers this week.
The assessed value of property inside district boundaries “came in quite a bit higher than we were projecting,” HSE Chief Financial Officer Tim Brown told the school board’s Finance & Facilities Committee Thursday morning.
That matters because a referendum rate is applied against total net assessed value. When the base is larger, a lower rate raises the same number of dollars. Administrators had been planning around a rate of 22.75 cents per $100 of assessed value in 2027 — the figure Brown has used in public presentations since spring — using the county data available at the time.
Brown did not tell the committee what the new 2027 recommendation will be, only that it will land below 22.75 cents.
An informational presentation on the revised recommendation is scheduled for Wednesday night’s board meeting. No vote is expected then.
What voters will decide November 3
Voters will decide November 3 whether to replace HSE’s current operating referendum, approved in 2023 with 70% support. State law requires the ballot question to show the maximum possible impact, so voters will see a rate of up to 36 cents per $100 of assessed value over eight years. District officials have consistently said they do not expect to levy the maximum in any year.
The rate is not locked in by the ballot. If the referendum passes, the school board votes each year on the referendum tax rate as part of the budget process — which is exactly the mechanism producing this week’s downward revision.
The district is asking again three years into an eight-year measure because of Senate Enrolled Act 1, the 2025 property tax overhaul signed by Gov. Mike Braun. Larger homestead deductions shrink the assessed value a rate is applied against, and consultants project HSE will collect roughly $45.3 million less than expected between 2026 and 2031. The same law limits referendum questions to general election ballots in even-numbered years, meaning HSE’s next opportunity after this fall would not come until November 2028.
HSE is far from alone. School finance experts estimate 40 to 50 Indiana districts will put referendum questions on this fall’s ballot, including Carmel, Noblesville, Westfield and Zionsville.
The revised number arrives as Brown and Superintendent Dr. Matt Kegley prepare a series of speaking engagements across the community to explain the referendum question to voters — appearances that will now carry a smaller first-year number than the one presented this spring.