Okay, we're live here from the town of Clarksville.

I'm Kendall Jackson.

I'm the communications coordinator for the town, and we're here with Clerk Treasurer Aidy Stone Cypher.

So A, do you want to go ahead and talk about what your roles of the town and what your department does?

Yeah, thanks for having me.

And thank you for tuning in.

I appreciate we've gotten some questions, I understand, already for me, and feel free to ask questions here live.

So my name is A D Stone Cypher.

I'm the elected clerk treasure for the town of Clarksville.

What is a clerk treasurer?

Well, that means I'm the chief financial officer.

So I'm elected by you, the taxpayers, to be the financial watchdog and the executor for all the money that flows into the town and flows out of the town.

And I have a team of three deputies, and together we ensure that we're compliant financially with all the laws and rules and regulations that are out there.

But we also provide transparency to the town and to the council.

We also execute the council's will.

So you elect a town council, they pass budgets, they approve contracts with the input from our professional staff.

They even have, in some cases, an appointed commission of local citizens who help to make contractual decisions.

And so when those contracts or budgets get made, we ensure that they're executed faithfully and effectively and correctly.

And of course, we're also in charge of the records, official record keeping for the town.

So there you go, there's the a rundown of what a clerk treasurer does.

Thank you.

And so today we're live just to kind of go over the basis of town finances, especially Senate Bill, and what that's going to impact our town like.

So do you want to give just an overview of what Senate Bill One is?

Yeah, so you've probably heard people talk about it in the media, but you'll hear it referred to as SB1.

It's actually an official act.

It was approved back in April and signed by the governor, uh, Governor Braun in May.

So Senate Act One is a very bold piece of legislation that basically intends to provide savings on property tax bills.

The what has made it uh perhaps controversial is that it is really going to put a uh financial squeeze on most municipal governments across the state.

Uh whether you are for Senate Act One or against Senate Act One, it is a very bold piece of legislation that's going to have dramatic effects.

Uh, and of course it remains to be seen whether the the General Assembly you know amends this.

Um, you know, I I'm of the opinion that it certainly has good intentions.

You know, I think for those of us uh that own a home or know someone who owns a home, uh, you know, we have seen assessments skyrocket.

And so for those, especially that are retired and on fixed income, it's certainly understandable that they're they're seeking from the legislatures some tax relief.

Uh however, I might have some disagreements with the way that Senate Act 1 does that, and I'm happy to you know discuss that with anyone.

And the main reason why, Kendall that I have concerns, and I've addressed this publicly with the council, um, and in and with my state lawmakers, and is that the speed at which it requires uh towns, including Clarksville, to cut budgets.

Um, and we've been getting lean uh leaner on our budgets every year for the last almost 15 years in terms of operation costs, but this would require us to slash budgets by almost 50 percent, almost in half in just eight years.

And so that quick of a drawdown is gonna affect uh real jobs and real families here in town and across the state.

Definitely.

So we really wanted to come on here to let you all as residents ask Adie any questions you felt um you had concerns about.

Um so please feel free in the comments to leave those questions, and I'll go ahead and ask you some questions that I pulled.

Um, so how much will 2026 property tax bill likely change under SB 1 compared to 2025?

Yeah, what's interesting about this bill is it doesn't really take full effect until 2028.

So both your property tax bill and your municipal budgets like ours aren't really going to see any change next year.

Uh, and very minimal change in 27.

In 28, uh well, there will be the uh drastic phase of what they call a new homestead credit.

So people who own their homes.

Um and the goal of that credit is that eight years from now, it could potentially lower your property tax bill by uh by almost two-thirds, or at least a third in many cases, um, depending on your situation.

Um that's that's where we see this this drastic drawdown in potentially municipal budgets.

Um I should say also Senate Act 1 also toys, it also plays with the way the county income tax gets allotted, and that's going to have a negative effect on at least on Clarksville, maybe not all towns, but on Clarksville it will.

So that's another portion of this act that a lot of people don't realize.

It doesn't just change property taxes, it changes how that county income tax that you pay from you know in your uh out of your paycheck, how that gets distributed between counties and towns.

And so um, yeah, we're not gonna see much change over the next two years.

But in 2028, uh, yeah, we will start uh if if it doesn't get changed, if it doesn't get amended, and I hope you know we've got time to come together uh as taxpayers and you know municipalities and state lawmakers and try to figure out a way forward that's gonna maybe not be so drastic.

Uh so we've got time, but we need to have those discussions to start them now because yeah, come 2028, we'll see you know, millions of dollars in cuts annually at the municipal level, uh, but you're not really gonna see much as as a property taxpayer.

And in fact, for your income taxes, you're going to likely see an increase because to try to offset some of these drastic cuts, uh, the state house is now given municipalities a new tool, actually, a municipal income tax of up to 1.2%.

So uh, you know, I did the math for my own house, uh my own home, and uh, you know, over eight years, you know, eight years from now, I might save a thousand dollars on my property taxes, but I'm gonna pay even more than that in a new municipal income tax.

Uh, and I may end up paying more in some other hidden costs, uh, such as you know, a new wheel tax on my license plate, increase in casualty insurance on my home, because to be quite frank, uh, without any changes, Senate Act 1 is going to require us to shut down our fire department in about six years' time.

We literally will not be able to afford uh our own fire department, our fire territory.

And so that raises bigger questions as to do we need to start consolidating uh fire departments and making it a countywide service, uh, you know, that the county income tax uh funds.

So uh that's probably the most drastic concern I have is how do we fund local fire departments uh under this new Senate Act 1 era?