If you go to downtown Verplanck, a small working class hamlet less than two miles from the Indian Point nuclear power plant, you’re likely to come across someone like Danny O'Brien.

He lives along the main drag in Verplanck, which is pretty quiet on a weekday afternoon. A handful of storefronts are empty, most others that aren't are filled with mom and pop stores. O'Brien comes to the door wearing a t-shirt from the local fire department, where he works. He has many friends who work at the plant, and has even worked there on and off himself over the years. As for closing the plant down, he's not a fan.

"It’ll change the town, for the worse," he said one recent afternoon. "This town will become like a ghost town."

O'Brien was never too worried about Indian Point melting down, or some other catastrophe that prompted an agreement between the state and the plant's operator, the Entergy Corp., to cease operations in 2021. He's much more sure about the impact the closure will have on small businesses, from the gas stations that will fill up fewer cars to the restaurants and delis that will feed fewer lunch customers. And O'Brien is worried about the 1,100 jobs that will disappear once Indian Point closes.

But O'Brien is also worried about something that will have a much more direct impact on him: taxes.

Indian Point makes millions of dollars in payments to the local fire department, library, town, county and school district, which means property owners don’t need to pay as much on their tax bill. So once Indian Point disappears, property owners could see a big take hike, in the range of 50 percent. That affects everybody whether they want the plant there or not.

Even the activists who pushed for years to have the plant closed are going to feel the pain.

"My taxes are gonna go up," admits Joan Vogt, a local activist who was one of many who pushed for years to have the plant closed. While she says she and others are still advocating to close the plant safely and responsibly, the fact that the closure of Indian Point will touch just about everyone is making strange bedfellows across the political spectrum.

Vogt is part of a local group of concerned citizens called Power Through Cortlandt.

"I’m completely leftwing liberal, my close members on Power through Cortlandt are Republicans," she said. "We have very different views on a lot subjects, but we’re navigating this together."

Still, despite a certain amount of harmony among residents, Vogt says the past year has been a lesson in just how many layers of influence there are when it comes to closing a nuclear power plant.

"There are decisions being made, and reasons behind those decisions and reasons behind those decisions," she says.

The entity that will be most affected by Indian Point's closure will be the Hendrick Hudson School District, which covers this part of Westchester County. 

The district gets more than $20 million annually from Indian Point, a third of its annual budget, according to Superintendent Joseph Hochreiter. To make up for that loss, the district would either have to raise property taxes or make major budget cuts.

"It gives me no pride to say that, but we're going to engage in a study about the feasibility of three elementary schools," the superintendent told WNYC. "We're going to have to look at some programs that kids really really enjoy."

Another option is for the state or federal government to step in and provide financial aid. But that would require legislators from across the state to vote to assist a tiny corner of Westchester County, which Hochreiter thinks is unlikely.

"I don't know if people in Buffalo or the North Country or Montauk care what we're going through, but we need their vote," he said.

State officials do say there is a lot of time between now and 2021 to figure out what to do with the nuclear plant and the effects of its closure. And a task force made up of local officials and state representatives is working through a number of issues.

A lot of residents in this area say the lower taxes make their community a relatively affordable oasis in one of the most unaffordable areas of the country. So, in the meantime, for people like Danny O’Brien in downtown Verplanck, there’s a lot of anxiety that this part of the Hudson Valley will be changed for good.

 "I don't think there's a middle class anymore," O'Brien says. "You're either rich or you're poor class. When the plant leaves, whatever money we have, we'll be poor class."