It's not a renewal.
It's a 54% higher tax rate.
Noblesville Schools calls the November 3rd referendum a simple “continuation.” But the proposed maximum rate jumps from 37¢ to 57¢ per $100 of assessed value — locked in for eight years, through 2034.
Rates per $100 of assessed value. Source: Noblesville Schools — Referendum 2026.
Applies the homestead deductions the county actually uses — a simple “value × rate” sum overstates the cost roughly threefold. Full method and sources →
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Five reasons to vote NO
1. It's a tax increase
“Continuation” is the marketing word. The maximum rate rises from 37¢ to 57¢ and is set for eight years.
2. It costs about $19 a month
At the full 57¢ rate on a $350,000 home — roughly $230 a year, and more on a pricier one. Not the $1.88 you've heard.
3. Accountability comes first
Before asking for more, the district should show exactly where today's dollars go — and what it cut first.
4. Why the max, for 8 years?
The ballot locks in the maximum rate through 2034 — not a smaller increase voters could revisit sooner.
5. Fewer students, longer commitment
The district blamed “a large decline in student enrollment” when it cut staff in February — then called enrollment stable when asking for eight years.
Go hear the district's case in person. Superintendent Dr. Dan Hile is holding public meetings and open coffee-shop office hours across Noblesville through October — free, no RSVP, open to all residents. We've published the whole schedule, plus the questions we think are worth asking. See the meeting schedule →
Read the fine print
You've heard “about $1.88 a month” — called an average of the next eight years. It isn't an average. It's the district's own calculator's final-year increase divided by eight. Run that same calculator across all eight years and it averages $8.19 a month, hitting $15.05 by 2034. The arithmetic, line by line → And measure just the thing on the ballot — the rate going from 37¢ to 57¢ — and it's closer to $19 a month on a $350,000 home. On August 18, 2026 the board put its 4¢-a-year pledge in writing, and that's worth crediting — but the resolution pins only 2027, caps each later year's step rather than the destination, and at 4¢ a year it reaches the full 57¢ in 2032 — higher than the district's own calculator shows. A resolution can be rescinded by a later board; the ballot can't.
And read the ballot to the end: it authorizes a rate up to 57¢ and a maximum of $43,842,578 a year — roughly 75% more than the ~$25M the district says it needs. Why that gap matters →
Three other Hamilton County districts are on the same ballot asking the same kind of question. Their certified rates: Carmel Clay 42.74¢, Westfield Washington 39.41¢, Hamilton Southeastern 36¢. Noblesville's is 57¢ — the highest in the county, on every measure we could find. See all four side by side →
Run your own assessed value through the calculator and see both figures side by side — including the one that cuts against us. Or read where the district's own page contradicts itself, quoted and sourced.
Sources and the full calculator: stopthenoblesvillereferendum.com · Vote NO on the Noblesville Schools operating referendum — Tuesday, November 3, 2026.