Noblesville schools proposes referendum, says $25 million per year in funding on the line

[00:00:00]After a community has supported the district for 16 straight years in this way, I think it would be pretty irresponsible if I'm being frank for the board to not at least give the community a chance to weigh in on this issue.

[00:00:11]>> A record number of schools in Indiana are expected to ask people if they're willing to pay more on their property taxes to give the school district more money. Noblesville Schools is now the latest to put a referendum on the November ballot.

[00:00:23]>> Our Jenna Webster breaks down all the details of what you need to know.

[00:00:28]Well, the biggest thing you need to know is why Noblesville wants this new referendum. And that's because money coming into the district is down. This is a bit of a complicated topic. So, we're going to have our co-workers help us explain the three things you need to know. And the first is that the current referendum is expiring. That's a loss of $25 million or 20% of their budget. The second is the impact of Indiana's property tax changes. So, they don't have an exact number, but are estimating it's going to be millions of dollars a year that they're losing out on.

[00:00:55]This third one, it's a bit more complicated. Because Noblesville is a wealthier area and they have a heavy residential tax base, they get $10 million less than the average school district. That's because of the state's funding formula. Now, the superintendent says this referendum is just to keep things at the status quo.

[00:01:12]>> The whole purpose of this is just to maintain stable funding so we can keep doing the things that we're doing now, not to add anything new.

[00:01:18]>> So, the big question you want to know is just how much you're going to be paying.

[00:01:21]So, the district is asking for 57 cents for every $100 of the assessed value of your home, but they say they're not actually going to be collecting that much initially. Next year, it's going to be a max of 41 cents. So, if you have an average home value in Noblesville, you'd be paying $679 or $40 more than what you're paying now.

[00:01:40]>> Every year after that is actually less than $40.

[00:01:43]>> It's less than >> The highest one is actually the first year and again it's just because of the way the math is working behind the scenes and the way all these deductions and things are going to kick in. One year, the increase is $4.

[00:01:52]>> Now, it feels like the math isn't mathing, which is exactly what the superintendent says. The district wants to help you understand how this is all going to impact you. So, they're going to be having some meetings later this summer, this fall, you can come ask all your questions. We also have all this information online right now at wthr.com.

[00:02:09]I'm Jenna Webster reporting.

[00:02:11]>> Okay, Jenna. Lots of numbers there.

[00:02:13]Thank you for bringing us that. And Noblesville schools says without a new referendum, there will be cuts to staff and programs and larger class sizes.

[00:02:22]Over the last two years, the district has already cut 60 positions.