Rice County to seek contracts for redetermination of drainage‑ditch benefits

Jared Spitzak, the county drainage ditch manager, told the Rice County Board that staff plan to seek approval next week for four contracts to redetermine benefits on 23 county drainage ditches, covering roughly one‑third of the county's acreage. Some ditch benefit rolls date to 1901 and 1917, Spitzak said, and the redetermination will update which parcels benefit from each ditch and therefore how repair costs should be assessed.

The redetermination process assigns a share of benefit to each parcel within a watershed so future repair or maintenance costs can be allocated equitably. Spitzak said the county would pay upfront for the work and assess landowners in each ditch system after the new benefit rolls are finalized.

H2 Overviewers prepared four regional contract groups, chosen so connected watersheds and adjacent townships can be handled together; group 1 is scheduled to start in winter 2026–27 and group 4 to finish in 2028. Spitzak said the consultant contract work averages about $3.97 per acre; his preliminary watershed estimate is roughly 90,000 acres overall, with the final acreages to be confirmed during determinations.

Commissioners and Spitzak described practical reasons for the update: road construction, culvert changes and land‑use shifts over the past century have altered watershed boundaries and which parcels benefit from ditch infrastructure. Spitzak said many landowners he has talked with are supportive because several ditches need maintenance or repair that current assessments do not fairly distribute.

The board did not vote at the work session. Spitzak said the four contracts, reviewed by the county attorney, will come to the board next week for formal approval; after each group's redetermination is finished, assessments for that group would be billed to the identified benefited parcels.