MUSKINGUM WATERSHED CONSERVANCY DISTRICT
MAINTENANCE ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY
History of the Muskingum System
The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) was created in 1933 to carry out a comprehensive
flood control and water conservation program in the Muskingum River watershed. The Official Plan of the
MWCD called for the construction of 14 large dams and reservoirs to provide a coordinated system of flood control
and water conservation throughout the watershed. The dams were constructed by the federal government as
part of the depression era public works program and have since been operated and maintained by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers.
Since 1933, the MWCD has operated the reservoirs and adjoining property by providing recreational opportunities
with the Atwood Lodge, marina operations, camping, cabin rentals, cottage site leases, along with oil, gas
and timber leases. Revenue from these sources has generally equaled expenditures leaving only limited funds
for maintenance of the reservoirs and dams.
The Amendment to the Official Plan adopted by the MWCD Board of Directors and Conservancy Court in 2005
provides the framework to update and maintain the flood control system and in the process improve water quality
in area lakes and streams.
Purpose of the Maintenance Assessment
The 14 dams of the MWCD system are more than 70 years old and require major safety upgrades. The US
Army Corps of Engineers has listed four of the MWCD dams, Mohawk, Dover, Beach City and Bolivar as being
among the most critical structures in the United States requiring major safety improvements. The Corps estimates
that costs to repair these structures and additional upgrades to the other dams could exceed $500 million,
which the MWCD as the local sponsor must provide local matching funds. In addition, the reservoirs are filling
with sediment which needs to be removed, lake and stream bank erosion should be reduced and acid mine drainage
and stream pollution from antiquated sewage treatment and septic systems must be eliminated to keep the
reservoirs viable.
The MWCD has identified six major areas of increased maintenance in the watershed including:
The estimated cost of this work is $270 million over 20 years.
Methodology
The assessment is based on the estimated contribution of runoff
from each of the 745,800 parcels within the MWCD.
To develop the methodology, a Geographic Information System (GIS) was prepared. A GIS map might be
called a “smart map” as it includes the location of each parcel from the County tax maps, and each parcel has
been attributed with the Auditor’s data including owners name, address, parcel identification, parcel area and
land use code.
The assessment is then computed from the parcel area, a runoff factor taken from TR-55 (Technical Report No.
55), prepared by the Soil Conservation Service, which is used extensively to compute runoff, and the Assessment
Use Code, which indicates if the parcel is residential, commercial, agricultural or industrial. Typical runoff factors
are shown in the following table.
1. Dam Safety and Flood Control 4. Water Quality Improvements
2. Sediment Removal 5. Watershed Management
3. Shoreline Protection 6. Reservoir Operations
A statistical sample of 600 residential parcels in the 18 counties within the MWCD produced an average impervious
area of 3,300 square feet. Impervious area is the amount of hard surface such as buildings, sidewalks
and driveways that produce much of the runoff to area rivers and streams. All residential, agricultural and
vacant properties would be assessed the same amount, 1 ERU (Equivalent Residential Unit). Commercial,
Industrial and other parcel classifications will be assessed based upon their estimated contribution of runoff to
the watershed. The following example illustrates how this assessment would be determined:
For a 1 acre commercial property, the estimated percent impervious area would be 85%.
1 acre = 43,560. ft.
43,560 x 0.85 = 37,026 sq. ft.
37,026 / 3,300 = 11 ERU
If one ERU = $12.00 per year
Then 11 ERU = 11x $12.00 or $132 per year assessment.
Board of Appraisers
The three member Board of Appraisers is appointed by the Conservancy Court to
“appraise all benefits anddamages accruing to all lands within or outside the district and all benefits accruing to public corporations
as entities by reason of the execution of the Official Plan
.” To accomplish this requirement the MWCDBoard of Appraisers has met monthly over the past eight months to evaluate issues relative to levying the
maintenance assessment.
The MWCD Board of Appraisers has established a definition of a parcel as:
“For purposes of this appraisal of benefits, a parcel is defined as one or more contiguous ,
(adjoining) tracts of land with similar assessment use codes (AUC) and the same owner of record, as
determined by the County Auditors. Such parcel may be divided by public or private roads or streams
and still be considered one parcel under this Plan.” *
*Note: Combining parcels across a road or stream is a manual process which will not be completed
before the Appraisal Record is filed, but will be accomplished prior to levying the assessment.
The Board of Appraisers has adopted a number of “Rules” to describe how the assessment will be established.
These include:
•
Use one (1) equivalent residential unit (ERU) for residential properties, defined as 1, 2 or 3 family.•
Agricultural properties be treated the same as residential properties, and should be identified based uponthe land use code in the Auditor’s database;
•
Undeveloped properties will be assessed the minimum of 1 equivalent residential unit (ERU) .•
Consolidate parcels whose assessment use code (AUC) is either Residential (R), Vacant (V) or Agricultural(A) and whose owner names match exactly and are adjacent to each other and bill just one of the
parcels. Provide for correction of consolidation errors during the process.
Parcel Use % Impervious
Residential 0.25
Commercial 0.85
Industrial 0.72
Parks, etc. 0.01
Mobile Home 0.25
•
The “land Use” method should be adopted as the methodology for computing the annual assessment•
A sample of residential properties will be used to determine the ERU (Equivalent Residential Unit) for residentialproperties.
•
A single residential ERU should be established as the basis for evaluating all other land use classifications•
The ERU will be computed for other parcel use codes based on the methodology described later in this paper.•
Round the ERU to the nearest whole number using conventional rounding protocol;•
All Federal and certain properties currently designated by the legislature as exempted from assessments areexempted. No other exemptions from the assessment charge will be accepted.
•
Public roadways, sidewalks located in the right-of-way, driveway aprons located in the right-of-way, andbike paths/trails are defined as part of the storm water conveyance system and will not be assessed.
•
The MWCD should allow for retroactive billing adjustments for any and all types of discovered billing errors,for a period not to exceed three years following the billing date that precedes discovery of the error. Exceptions
and variations to this policy are expected as good customer service benefits should be applied whenever
possible.
•
For Condominiums, if County Auditor records show that individual condo owners are taxed based upon arecorded deed, then the estimated impervious area of the total parcel will be prorated across each individual
owners parcel and assessed accordingly, otherwise, the condominium association or management company
will be assessed.
•
Assessment for apartments to be billed to the complex owner, not individual tenants.•
The assessment for land leases to be billed to the property owner, not the tenant.•
For those parcels that overlap the MWCD boundary, if more than 50% of the parcel is inside the MWCDthen an assessment will be levied against the entire parcel.
•
The methodology proposed to distribute the benefit across all the property within the MWCD is based on theestimated runoff produced by each parcel as determined by its Property Use Code, the parcels gross area, as
determined by the Auditors records, and the estimated impervious area for that Parcel Use Code, based on
TR-55 average values. This runoff produces the flooding and water quality problems that are addressed under
the Addendum to the Official Plan which was approved by the Conservancy Court on June 11, 2005.
•
The percent impervious for open space, including lawns, parks, golf courses and cemeteries be established as1%.
•
The 1% impervious factor be applied to camp grounds (PUC 416).•
The 1% impervious factor should also be used for mines and quarries (PUC 380).•
Based on a statistical sample of trailer or mobile home parks (PUC 415), the average percent impervious areawas found to be 25%.
•
Based on statistical sampling, 3,300 square feet of impervious area be adopted as one ERU.•
For purposes of this assessment process, any R, Ag or V parcel in excess of one section (640 acres) is considereda large parcel and the assessed value will be determined by dividing the total parcel area by 640 and
billing according to the rounded results.
•
For larger parcels, where potential assessments would exceed $1,000, impervious area will be measured fromavailable aerial photography and the results used to compute the assessment.