Business director warns Senate Enrolled Act 1 could cost Tri‑Creek about $1.86 million in 2026

Dana, Tri‑Creek's Director of Business Operations, told the board that Senate Enrolled Act 1 — a state property‑tax relief measure — is likely to reduce the district's assessed value base and materially lower property‑tax revenue.

Using DLGF (Department of Local Government Finance) data, Dana said the district is looking at an estimated $1,860,000 revenue loss in 2026, a 189% increase over the prior year’s circuit‑breaker impacts in the district. She explained the bill phases down homestead deductions, increases business personal property exemptions up to $2,000,000 and adds a per‑taxpayer credit, which combined reduce the taxable base. "1,860,000.00 is what we're looking at as far as property tax revenue loss in 2026," she said.

Dana warned that, as written, the bill does not protect debt‑service funds from circuit‑breaker reductions; she said debt service could lose an estimated $671,000 under the DLGF scenario and that operations would lose roughly $1.2 million. "If you don't have a cash balance in there," she told trustees, "then you can't pay your mortgage." Board members discussed the possibility of state fixes and noted the district will model different scenarios. Policy analytics had provided alternate parcel‑by‑parcel estimates between roughly $1.9 million and $2.1 million in losses; Dana said the DLGF figures are high‑level estimates and policy analytics models used different growth assumptions.

The board asked staff to run additional scenarios and to report follow‑up options; trustees expressed concern about the potential effect on bond ratings and the need to identify offsets or use cash balances to preserve debt service.