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County staff unveils data-driven ditch-prioritization model to guide repairs
Summary
Kosciusko County staff presented a new spreadsheet-based scoring system designed to rank drainage systems by physical condition, financial stress and environmental factors so the board can prioritize hearings and reconstructions instead of responding only to complaints.
Kosciusko County staff presented a draft, data-driven prioritization model intended to help the county rank ditches for maintenance, hearings and reconstructions.
Speaker 2, a staff presenter, told the drainage board the model compiles physical, financial and environmental metrics into a single overall rating. "We're trying to take some of the data that we have from our ditches and use that to base our decisions on where we do hearings, where we do reconstructions," Speaker 2 said, describing the tool as a guide rather than a set policy. The model's overall rating runs from 8 (best case) to 55 (worst case), Speaker 2 said: "8 being best case scenario... and then the highest overall rating is 55."
The model groups inputs into three buckets: physical condition (size, miles of ditch/tile, watershed acreage), financial factors (prior-year spending relative to annual collections and account balance), and environmental factors (zoning category, soil drainage characteristics and wetland extent). Speaker 2 explained the board doubled the score for drains rated "unacceptable" on condition so that severe field-observed problems rise quickly in priority. "Anything that's a 5 in this condition rating, we doubled to a 10," Speaker 2 said.
Financial measures are intended to flag drains that are consuming more than their revenue. The presenter said an example metric is spending as a percent of collections: "100% means that we used every bit of the amount of collections that we got for the year." The balance rating looks at the account's reserves relative to annual collections; staff used 4× annual collections as a threshold for stopping further collection activity.
Board members urged field validation. Speaker 1, a board member, said staff should weight condition heavily and use on-the-ground experience to correct the model where data diverge from known trouble spots. "I've spent a lot of time... looking at these problems," Speaker 1 said, noting staff observations would help reconcile data gaps.
Speaker 2 provided interim results: Pull Run, Plunge Creek and a secondary high-priority drain were among the top-ranked systems under the current inputs. Staff acknowledged the model is a first draft; financial data reflect 2024 and will be updated in January. Speaker 2 said the board will track multi-year trends so it can measure how hearings or projects change a drain's priority score over time.
The board did not take formal action on the model at the meeting; members instructed staff to continue refining the spreadsheet, to adjust weightings, and to bring back updated analyses and field checks in 2025.
