Property owners in the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District region will have instant access early next year to their questions about how the MWCD’s proposed $270 million maintenance and improvement plan will affect them.
Development of an Internet-based data portal that will provide details about individual properties, assessment rates and other related details was approved by the MWCD Board of Directors at a meeting today (Nov. 18) at Atwood Lake Resort and Conference Center.
"The data portal will allow citizens to log onto the designated Internet site and review the information about their parcel or parcels on there," said James Rozelle of Fuller, Mossbarger, Scott & May Engineers at Cincinnati, consultant to the MWCD on the project. "It will provide the same information that must be produced by law to develop the assessment program."
The MWCD’s maintenance and improvement plan (which is the Amendment to the Official Plan of the MWCD), approved earlier this year by the Conservancy District’s Board of Directors and Conservancy Court, would be funded through an assessment of owners of property in the 18-county MWCD region. The assessment, which has been estimated to cost $12 per year for owners of residential and agricultural properties (with industrial/commercial still being developed), has been projected to begin collection in 2007 and include the combination of parcels with the same owner and use code.
The data portal is expected to be completed early in 2006 and cost about $110,000 to develop, Rozelle said. Information about where to access it on the Internet also will provided at that time.
"We truly believe the development of this data portal will pay for itself many times over from the convenience of interested residents to have the information available quickly and in a presentation that is easy to understand," said John M. Hoopingarner, MWCD executive director/secretary. "We also will offer a location on the portal for questions to be sent directly to our staff for answers, as well as to provide telephone numbers and other contact information for questions to be answered."
MWCD officials also have pledged to work closely with auditors and treasurers in the 18 counties where the assessment will be collected to provide them with basic details and contact information for the Conservancy District as the process moves forward. As designated by state law, the assessment will be collected through the individual county offices.
Ohio law authorizes the state’s conservancy districts to levy assessments. Three basic classes of parcels are subject to the assessment: residential, agricultural and commercial/industrial. The Conservancy District has proposed that parcels of properties that are adjacent and have the same property use code will be consolidated for purposes of the assessment.
Since its inception, the MWCD has operated on revenue 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.
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.
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