Hanover School District No. 28's 4-mill property tax for staff pay and benefits, with no end date

Hanover School District No. 28 has no voter-approved mill levy override, the district says, and the state's 2025 levy record for it shows an override levy of zero. Ballot Issue 4C would create the district's first. Voters in the district decide it on El Paso County's ballot for the November 3, 2026 general election. If approved, it would raise district taxes by $231,788 in tax year 2026, for collection in 2027, which the question calls "THE FIRST FULL FISCAL YEAR INCREASE." In every year after that, the increase would be "WHATEVER AMOUNTS ARE RAISED BY A LEVY OF 4 MILLS" on the assessed value of all taxable property in the district. The question has no end date. The district's exploration page describes the override as permanent, and its measure page notes that voters would not be asked to reauthorize it. The measure page is undated, and it still says the board "will vote" to add the override to the November 2026 ballot.

Only the first year's dollar figure is fixed. The district's measure page counts the changing amount among the arguments against 4C, because later collections depend on assessed valuation. Among the arguments for, it says the revenue "scales with assessed valuation over time rather than staying flat."

The question also calls the tax an additional property tax mill levy, above the levy authorized for the district's general fund, "WITHOUT LIMITATION AS TO RATE," under section 22-54-108, C.R.S. The measure page says that phrase "may read as open-ended to some voters, even though the mill rate itself (4 mills) is fixed."

A mill is $1 of tax for each $1,000 of taxable assessed value. On $100,000 of taxable assessed value, 4 mills adds $400 a year. Assessed value is a fraction of market value, set by the state's assessment rates.

The district estimates the cost for homes using what it gives as Colorado's 2026 residential school assessment rate of 7.05%, before any exemptions. By that estimate, a home with an "actual value" of $100,000 would pay about $28 a year, a $250,000 home about $71 and a $500,000 home about $141. The district puts commercial property at about $100 for each $100,000.

In 2025 the Division of Property Taxation recorded a total assessed value of $57,946,900 for the district. Four mills on that value comes to $231,788, the question's first-year figure. The district's total levy that year was 31.157 mills: a general fund levy of 26.128 mills less a temporary tax credit of 12.695 mills, plus a bond levy of 16.912 mills and an abatement levy of 0.812 mills. The 4 mills would be added to those levies and would replace none of them.

The money is "FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES, INCLUDING" three listed uses: staff compensation, including a higher base salary; retaining and recruiting qualified teachers and support staff; and improving employee benefits. The certified question authorizes the money "FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES, INCLUDING" the listed staff uses. It states no prohibition on construction or administrative overhead. The district's measure-page claim that those uses require another vote goes beyond the question's words. A panel on the same page says 90% would go to teacher and staff salaries and benefits and 10% to recruitment and retention, and that no funds would go to senior district leadership salaries. The ballot does not state that split or that pledge.

The district's exploration page says that as a small, rural district, Hanover faces challenges attracting and keeping qualified staff when neighboring districts can offer higher salaries and stronger benefits, and that neighboring districts already have an override, "which lets them out-compete Hanover on teacher pay." Its measure page adds, "New cost-of-living changes at the state level reduce funding for districts like HSD28," and says the state is allowing a temporary window before 2030 for affected districts to raise their override capacity.

If voters approve, the district may collect, retain and spend all revenue from the tax and the investment earnings on it as a voter-approved revenue change, an exception to the limits of Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution, the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. Revenue from the levy would not count against the district's TABOR limit, so none of it would be subject to refund under that limit.