CCS Referendum Calculator
We've already talked about how the Indiana General Assembly legally requires school referendum language to be inaccurate and misleading. We've also covered expected CCS referendum amounts for some specific home values. But what would passing the referendum do to change the amount of taxes YOU, as a Carmel resident, are paying? Probably less than you think. Enter your assessed home value below to see your own personal tax implications.
Disclaimer & Notes
The above numbers are obviously only estimates, but they’re based on the most accurate data currently available.
For each year through 2031, Senate Enrolled Act 1 (SEA 1) changes the calculations for your home’s Net Assessed Value (NAV), which is what your taxes are based on. Because of those changes, the above calculations are different for each year. In short, the following rates from SEA 1 are applied for your standard and supplemental deductions.
Year | StandardDeducation | SupplementalDeduction |
|---|---|---|
2025 | $48,000 | 37.5% |
2026 | $48,000 | 40.0% |
2027 | $40,000 | 46.0% |
2028 | $30,000 | 52.0% |
2029 | $20,000 | 57.0% |
2030 | $10,000 | 62.0% |
2031 | $0 | 66.7% |
If you want that verify that the above figures are correct, you can go to the Indiana Code and look up IC 6-1.1-12-37.
Additionally, under SEA 1, homeowners receive an additional $300 credit after their taxes have been calculated. To ensure an apples-to-apples comparison, $50 of that $300 credit are assigned to the estimates in this page's model.
Also, the question on the ballot requires CCS to only include the maximum rate, but we already know that the plan is to only apply the maximum rate in 2031. Because the property valuation formula changes for each of the next five years, the schools have to request the rate they’ll need in 2031, not the one they’ll need next year. The announced planned rates are used in the calculator. They are:
2027: $0.3039/$100 NAV
2028: $0.3449/$100 NAV
2029: $0.3695/$100 NAV
2030: $0.3974/$100 NAV
2031: $0.4274/$100 NAV
Another note, the calculator provides figures for a set value. Your home's value will likely change over the next five years. On average, Carmel homes have increased in value by 4% annually in recent years. This calculator doesn't take that into account, as there's a lot of variance. Some homes will go up by more than that. Some won't. For those in or near areas that were impacted by this year's historic flooding, values may likely decrease. If you want to use the calculator to determine the effect of what you think will happen to your home's value, you'll have to play with the number you enter (e.g. if your house is currently valued at $300,000 and you expect average growth, you would want to enter $312,000 for 2027, $324,480 for 2028, etc.).
Lastly, it’s worth remembering that the reductions to the NAV of your home will also impact your regular property taxes paid to the city and school. In other words, while the amount of property taxes paid for the referendum will go up a relatively small amount, the overall property taxes you’re paying towards our schools are likely to decrease as SEA 1 rolls out over the next five years.