Delaware County engineers propose value-based drainage assessments; hearing continued to Aug. 28

County Engineer Chris Bauserman and Chief Deputy Engineer Rob Riley presented a proposal to the Delaware County Board of County Commissioners to consolidate 409 single-family residential drainage maintenance projects into a single drainage maintenance district and replace the current percentage-of-construction-base assessments with a value-based assessment tied to property tax valuation.

Bauserman said the change would “change the way that we collect drainage maintenance assessments in residential subdivisions” and argued the move would correct disparities between adjacent lots that now pay different assessments despite receiving the same level of service.

The proposal, the engineers said, would apply only to platted single-family residential lots that are already in the county’s drainage maintenance program; it would not add properties to the program or change maintenance responsibilities. The engineers cited authority under Ohio Revised Code Section 61.37 and said the county’s drainage program also operates under a three-party agreement among the Board of County Commissioners, the county engineer’s office…