Highlands Ranch's Tax Rate Is Flat Next Year. Why Will Owning a Home There Still Cost More?

The Highlands Ranch Metro District's proposed 2027 budget leaves its mill levy at 12.250 mills for the 2026 tax year. That is below the voter-approved maximum of 12.750, and the District expects assessed valuation to rise only about 0.1%. A buyer checking the tax line on a Highlands Ranch listing would see a community holding still.

The water bill tells a different story. Highlands Ranch Water's 2027 proposed budget would raise water and wastewater bills by 6.7%, an average of $7.75 a month for single-family customers, starting with the first full billing cycle after January 1, 2027. Over a year that comes to about $93. Last year the Metro District raised its levy from 11.205 to 12.250 mills, and the District estimated that increase at $11.62 a year for a typical single-family home. So next year's proposed water increase is roughly eight times the size of the levy hike that made news a year ago.

This is a pattern built into how Highlands Ranch is governed, and it shapes how buyers should read the cost of a home here.

Why the water district's costs never reach your tax statement

Highlands Ranch is unincorporated. Services a city would usually bundle together are split across separate bodies here, and each one pays for itself in its own way. Highlands Ranch Water states it directly: unlike some other utilities, it receives no property tax revenue, and its money comes mainly from water and wastewater rates. When its costs go up, the increase shows up in the bi-monthly bill, not on the county tax statement.

Its costs are going up. The district expects 2027 operating expenses to run about $9.7 million above projected 2026 spending. The drivers are buying water, running its treatment facilities, replacing aging meters and paying debt. It also plans about $41.9 million in infrastructure work in 2027, including design of Phase 2 of the Joseph B. Blake Water Treatment Plant upgrade. That phase covers filtration upgrades, a new powdered activated carbon system, pump station work and new diesel backup generators.

This year's drought complicated the budget. The Highlands Ranch Herald reported that the district saved about $2.4 million on water leases because less water was available to lease from its partners. Through September 2026, billable demand ran 2% to 3% below the recent five-year average, which cut both revenue and operating costs. When a utility funded by rates sells less water, its fixed costs get spread over fewer gallons. That pressure is the same whether the property tax rate moves or not.

The 2027 bill stack, line by line

The table below lists the recurring costs tied to a typical single-family home in Highlands Ranch, apart from the mortgage and insurance. Every 2027 figure is still a proposal.

The stormwater increase is 25%, the first since the fee stayed flat from 2019 through 2025. The Metro District says it covered project costs from fund balance during those years. Staff are now recommending the increase because the system is aging and more projects are on the long-range plan. The dollar amount is small. The reason behind it matches the water district's: costs that were deferred are now coming due on the fee side of the ledger.

The HRCA assessment follows its own calendar. The board approved the 2025 rate on October 22, 2024, and the 2026 rate on October 21, 2025. For 2026, the administrative share stayed at $16 a quarter while the recreation share rose from $155 to $158. The recreation share pays to run HRCA's four recreation centers and the Backcountry Wilderness Area.

What this changes when you compare listings

A listing usually shows the most recent property tax amount. It rarely shows a water bill, and it never shows a fee increase that has been proposed but not yet adopted. For a home in Highlands Ranch, then, the listing sheet reflects the cost line that is holding flat and leaves out the lines that are rising.

Here are three practical habits for a buyer:

1. Ask for recent water and wastewater bills. Usage varies widely from one household to the next, and the 6.7% average is based on a typical single-family home using about 100,000 gallons a year. A home with a large irrigated yard will not match that average.
2. Confirm which HRCA assessment applies. Homeowners in most of Highlands Ranch pay the full assessment. HRCA lists Gleneagles Village, The Retreat, The Villages and Palomino Park, including Gold Peak and Silver Mesa, as subdivisions that pay a separate administrative-only assessment of $64 a year.
3. Compare like with like across city lines. Denver Water's board had a 2027 rate schedule on its October 28 agenda, with a planned start date of January 1, 2027. Denverite reported that the average single-family bill inside Denver would rise from $56.97 to $60.21 a month, about 5.7%, and that Denver Water's suburban customers would see about 7.9%, to $61.57. Those are water figures. Highlands Ranch Water's 6.7% covers water and wastewater combined, so the two percentages measure different bundles.

A buyer weighing a Virginia Village ranch against a Highlands Ranch two-story is comparing more than two tax bills. Each home comes with its own mix of utilities and fees, and in Highlands Ranch a bigger share of the cost of ownership sits outside the tax statement.

The tax bill moves on a slower, separate clock

The tax side is not frozen either. It just changes for different reasons. The Douglas County Assessor's tax bill FAQ notes that starting in Tax Year 2026, residential properties get a 10% legislative adjustment off the first $700,000 of actual value, applied only to the local government portion. The residential assessment rate is now split into one rate for school funding and another for all other local entities.

The timing matters more for buyers than the mechanics. The county says the 2026 assessment reflects values as of June 2024, not today's market. Post-study-period and current market data will be used in the 2027 reappraisal. According to the county's 2025–2026 property valuation page, the 2025 reappraisal used sales from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2024.

The market that the next reappraisal will look at has cooled. In September 2026, according to the Colorado Association of REALTORS Douglas County report, detached homes in Douglas County had a median sale price of $735,000, down 2.0% from a year earlier. They spent a median 55 days on market, sold for 98.5% of list price, and the county had 3.5 months of supply. Sales fell 25.3% year over year to 387. Attached homes had a median of $450,000 in September 2026, down 5.2%, with 5.0 months of supply.

These are countywide figures, not Highlands Ranch alone. Still, they show the split this post is about. The tax line follows home values, with a lag of a couple of years. The water and stormwater lines follow the cost of treatment plants, meters and drainage channels, and those costs keep rising whether prices go up or down. Locking in a lower purchase price does nothing to the fee side of the budget.

This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm how any assessment, rate or tax change applies to your situation with the right professional.

When the 2027 numbers become final

Everything in the table above can still change. These public dates come first:

• November 5, 5:30 to 7 p.m.: Highlands Ranch Water's Fall Community Open House at the Highlands Ranch Senior Center, covering the proposed budget and rates.
• November 6, 10 a.m.: Metro District board budget workshop.
• November 24, 6 p.m.: Metro District public hearing on the proposed budget.
• November 30: Highlands Ranch Water public hearing.
• December 8: Highlands Ranch Water adoption meeting.
• December 9, 6 p.m.: Metro District board approves the final budget.

Printed copies of both budgets are available at 62 Plaza Drive, which houses both districts' offices.

A few distinct questions

Does a flat mill levy mean my Metro District property tax will not change? Not necessarily. The District expects property tax revenue to rise modestly with no levy change, because assessed valuation is projected to inch up. Your county bill also reflects every other taxing entity and the state's assessment rules.

Is the 6.7% water increase what every household will pay? No. It is the estimate for a typical single-family home using about 100,000 gallons a year. The proposal includes a 5.0% increase to most base water and wastewater rates and a 6.0% increase to service availability charges, so a household's actual change depends on its usage and meter.

Did the former Centennial Water and Sanitation District change? It is the same district under a new name. It became Highlands Ranch Water & Sanitation District effective January 2, 2025.

If you are weighing a home in Highlands Ranch against one in Denver or another suburb, The David Bell Group can help you build a full monthly cost comparison, with water, fees and assessments alongside the tax line, so the number you plan around matches the bills you will actually pay.