The Delaware County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 18 voted to combine more than 400 residential subdivision drainage improvements into a single maintenance district and to change assessment collection from project-based permanent assessments to a uniform value-based millage. County engineer officials recommended a 0.3 mill rate that they said would reduce the total annual assessment collection by roughly 46% while still covering ongoing maintenance.

The resolution changes the collection method; it does not remove the county’s authority to perform maintenance. Commissioners said the change spreads financial risk across hundreds of projects and reduces the need to accumulate larger reserves on individual developments.

County Engineer Chris Bauserman explained the rationale: under the current system, assessments are based on the original cost and benefit calculations for each improvement, producing large differences between neighboring lots. "We have over 409 residential subdivision projects," he said, arguing a consolidated fund would even out inequities and allow existing reserves to be used more efficiently across projects.

Rob Riley, chief deputy engineer, and Soil & Water District deputy Brett Bacon supported the revision. Bacon told the board the Soil and Water Conservation District “fully supports this proposal,” saying the change will improve administrative efficiency and field operations for more than 400 projects now in the maintenance program.

Commissioners noted the change will appear on property-tax bills in January 2026 but emphasized the levy is a special assessment collected by millage, not a countywide property tax. Commissioner Benton said, "It is a significant tax decrease. Again, it's a significant assessment decrease. It's not technically a property tax, so that's that's good." The board passed the measure unanimously.

What happens next: the new assessment method is scheduled to take effect for the billings that correspond to the winter 2026 property-tax cycle. Staff will implement the millage-based calculation and continue annual reporting to the board.