Eaton County Commissioners approve full‑faith pledges for major drainage projects, authorize bond process for intercounty bank drain

EATON COUNTY — The Eaton County Board of Commissioners on April 16 voted to back multiple drainage projects with the county’s credit and set the county on a path to issue a capital improvement bond to help finance the largest, the Bank Intercounty Drain project.

The board voted to pledge the county’s full faith and credit for the Hobart and Lead‑Lehi drain projects and, after separating it for discussion, approved a separate full‑faith pledge for the Bank Intercounty Drain. Commissioners later adopted a notice of intent to issue capital improvement bonds to finance the county’s portion of the Bank Intercounty Drain project and related county facility improvements.

The decisions follow months of engineering, hearings and financing work by the drainage district, county staff and consultants. Spicer Group, municipal bond counsel and financial advisors told commissioners that without the county pledge the projects likely would not receive competitive bids or would face substantially higher interest costs when sold in the bond market. Bond counsel explained that drainage districts rely primarily on special assessments and that a county pledge acts as a backup source of payment if assessments prove insufficient.

“This is a real obligation from the county,” bond counsel told commissioners, adding that in normal situations any county payment would be limited and short in duration because delinquent assessments first enter the county tax‑collection process and the drainage district can levy deficiency assessments to repay the county.

Commissioners pressed staff on process and timing. Officials said the…