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 MWCD Board of Appraisers Working to Prepare Assessment Meetings scheduled over the next few weeks by the Board of Appraisers of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District should finalize a proposal to establish an assessment to fund a 20-year, $270-million maintenance and improvement plan for the reservoirs and dams in the Muskingum River Watershed. The three-member Board of Appraisers will meet Jan. 18 and again Feb. 8 to consider adoption of the assessment plan before it is filed with the MWCD Conservancy Court in mid-February for legal notification and review. By law, the Board of Appraisers is the body that develops the methodology for assessments by conservancy districts in Ohio. Both of the upcoming meetings, which will be held at 9 a.m. in the New Philadelphia City Council Chambers, will include discussion of any remaining items for development of the assessment plan. Staff from the Cincinnati engineering firm of Fuller, Mossbarger, Scott & May, which is the consultant to the MWCD on the project, will participate in the meetings. The Board of Appraisers also will provide an update report to members of the Conservancy Court during a session Jan. 21 at the Tuscarawas County Courthouse in New Philadelphia. No official action on the report is expected to be taken on the report to the judges, who include one common pleas court judge from each of the 18 counties of jurisdiction in the MWCD. Members of the Board of Appraisers are James Navratil of Medina, Thomas Roe of Wooster and Mark Waltz of Dover. In 2005, the MWCD Board of Directors and Conservancy Court approved the Amendment to the Official Plan of the MWCD, which is the $270-million plan to protect flood reduction benefits in the MWCD system of dams and reservoirs, as well as to promote water quality in the region. Funding for the plan, as outlined in Ohio law, would come from the owners of the estimated 700,000 parcels of property in the watershed. Conservancy District officials have estimated the assessment will cost the owners of residential and agricultural properties in its 18-county jurisdiction about $12 per parcel annually, with adjacent properties combined into one basic assessment. An estimate for commercial/industrial parcels is being developed. After the required legal review period and an opportunity for property owners to formally object to the assessment on their individual parcels is conducted, the MWCD will present the assessment report to the Conservancy Court to consider in June. If it is approved by the Conservancy Court, collection of the assessment has been projected to begin in 2007.Funds generated through collection of the assessment will be used for maintenance and improvements of the flood reduction system originally constructed in the 1930s. By law, funds cannot be used to pay for any improvements related to recreation programs, such as new boat launch ramps, campground facilities and others. Since their inception, the dams and reservoirs in the MWCD region have prevented an estimated $6 billion worth of potential property damage from flooding. In the January 2005 flood alone, more than $400 million worth of property damage was averted. A report on the wide range of benefits from the existence of the dams and reservoirs is being developed and will be part of the information the Board of Appraisers will study in the next few weeks. Three basic classes of parcels are subject to the assessment: residential, agricultural and commercial/industrial. Since its inception, the MWCD has operated on revenue generated primarily from the use of its facilities through various fee structures and the stewardship of its natural resources. However, this funding alone cannot address the large-scale needs and costs associated with the aging system, which are showing the effects of sedimentation, erosion and other issues that can have a negative impact on flood reduction and water quality benefits. The MWCD, the largest of the estimated 21 conservancy districts in the state, is believed to be the only one active district that does not collect an assessment for maintenance of its facilities. The 14 MWCD reservoirs are Atwood in Carroll and Tuscarawas counties; Beach City in Tuscarawas County; Bolivar in Stark and Tuscarawas counties; Charles Mill in Ashland and Richland counties; Clendening in Harrison County; Dover in Tuscarawas County; Leesville in Carroll County; Mohawk in Coshocton and Knox counties; Mohicanville in Ashland and Wayne counties; Piedmont in Belmont, Guernsey and Harrison counties; Pleasant Hill in Ashland and Richland counties; Seneca in Guernsey and Noble counties; Tappan in Harrison County; and Wills Creek in Coshocton and Muskingum counties. Two other reservoirs, Dillon in Muskingum County and North Branch Kokosing in Knox County, were constructed after the original 14 and are operated exclusively by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The 18 counties wholly or partially contained in the MWCD region are Ashland, Belmont, Carroll, Coshocton, Guernsey, Harrison, Holmes, Knox, Licking, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Richland, Stark, Summit, Tuscarawas, Wayne and Washington. For more information, including a complete copy of the Amendment to the Official Plan, visit www.mwcd.org on the Internet.
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