Littleton Public Schools Property Tax Override to the State Limit

State law caps how much a school district may raise through mill levy overrides. Littleton Public Schools' March 12 budget workshop put that cap at 27 percent of the district's total program funding, or $39,103,305 for fiscal year 2027. The district's existing overrides, including the four Littleton voters approved in 1988, 1997, 2004 and 2010, bring in $28,813,581 a year. The difference, $10,289,724, is the first-year amount printed in Issue 4A. The board's resolution of August 13, 2026, gives the purpose: "to increase its mill levy override cap to the maximum amount authorized" by the statute.

If voters approve, the district levies the new tax in 2026 and collects it in 2027. In later years the question lets the tax rise up to the statutory limit, which moves with the district's total program funding. After 2026, the levy may not rise by more than one mill from one year to the next. The March workshop put the maximum new levy at 3.649 mills, based on an estimated net assessed value of $2,820,148,838.

Issue 4A carries no end date, and the resolution makes the authority continuing. The district may collect and spend the revenue, and the earnings on it, as a voter-approved revenue change under TABOR, Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution, and any other law.

The question lists three purposes as examples: attracting and retaining teachers, safe and secure schools, and academic and career readiness programs. It also allows the money to go to educational purposes voters approved in earlier override elections. The district's Dollars and Sense page names two costs: $2.5 million for an average 2 percent raise for all staff, and $800,000 to cancel the furlough day scheduled for March 19, 2027. A share goes to charter schools under the board's distribution plan and state law. The district describes Issue 4A as a $10 million override and estimates its cost at about $25 a year for every $100,000 of a home's actual value.

The district closed a $10.6 million gap in its 2026-2027 budget. It cut $1.1 million from the central office and $2.8 million from operating budgets, moved $5.4 million in costs to the Operations and Technology Fund and saved $500,000 by dropping one-time expenditures. It also froze wages and scheduled the furlough day. The forecast its finance office presented on September 10, an estimate as of June 2026, leaves out salary schedule advancement and any change from negotiations. It projects spending above revenue in every year through 2029-2030, with the fund balance falling from $39.2 million to $17.4 million.