MWCD Announces Public Meeting
Residents of the 18-county Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District region will have an opportunity this month to discuss their opinions about the methodology of a proposed assessment of property owners to fund a 20-year, $270-million maintenance plan for the MWCD reservoirs.
A public meeting will be held Feb. 16 at 1 p.m. in the McDonald-Marlite Conference Center at 143 McDonald Dr. SW in New Philadelphia. Judges of the MWCD Conservancy Court ordered that the meeting be held to allow public comment about the proposal, which has been in the development stages for more than a year. By the time of the Feb. 16 meeting, the MWCD Board of Appraisers will have conducted numerous open meetings in which the appraisal methodology was discussed and developed.
For additional details about the meeting, contact the MWCD main office at(330) 343-6647 or toll-free at (877) 363-8500 Ext. 226, or send an e-mail to info@mwcdlakes.com.
During a recent meeting, the 18-member Conservancy Court heard reports about the proposed assessment plan from the MWCD Board of Appraisers. By law, the three-member Board of Appraisers is responsible for development of the process and procedure for a conservancy district assessment, including an appraisal of the benefits resulting from the 14 reservoirs in the MWCD system. Members of the MWCD Board of Appraisers are Thomas Roe of Wooster, James Navratil of Medina and Mark Waltz of Dover.
The MWCD, the largest of the 21 conservancy districts in the state, is believed to be the only active district that does not collect an assessment for maintenance of its facilities, according to John Hoopingarner, MWCD executive director/secretary. Funding for the plan, as provided in Ohio law, would come from an assessment of the owners of the estimated 700,000 parcels of property in the watershed.
MWCD officials have estimated the assessment will cost the owners of residential and agricultural properties in its 18-county jurisdiction about $12 per parcel annually. This compares favorably to the average annual assessment for the same class of property in the Maumee Conservancy District of $13.26, in the Miami Conservancy District of $86, and in the Hocking Conservancy District of $126. An estimate for commercial/industrial parcels in the MWCD plan continues to be developed.
The MWCD proposal also provides for adjacent parcels with the same owner and similar property use codes to be combined for the assessment computation, reducing the overall financial burden on owners of multiple properties.
Since its inception, the MWCD system of dams and reservoirs has prevented more than $6 billion worth of potential property damage, according to federal government estimates. In the flooding of January 2005, the record levels of floodwaters retained by the dams and reservoirs prevented more than $400 million in potential damage.
The MWCD Court will meet again Feb. 25 at 9 a.m. in the Tuscarawas County Courthouse at New Philadelphia to review the final methodology report of the Board of Appraisers. It is expected that shortly thereafter the MWCD Board of Appraisers will file the Conservancy Appraisal Record, which contains the legal information for the assessment process. After a required legal review period and an opportunity is provided for property owners to formally object to the assessment on their individual parcels, the MWCD will present the assessment report to the Conservancy Court to consider in June or July.
If it is approved by the Conservancy Court, the MWCD Board of Directors may then levy the assessment. 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, as well as water quality projects. 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.
Through its 70-plus-year history, 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.
In 2005, the MWCD Board of Directors and Conservancy Court approved the Amendment to the Official Plan of the MWCD, which outlines the $270-million maintenance plan to protect flood reduction benefits in the MWCD system of dams and reservoirs, as well as to promote water quality in the region.
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 in the system, 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.
