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Bay County drain commissioner warns of decades-old drains, multi-million-dollar projects
Summary
Bay County's Drain Commissioner told the board the county must address more than 20 miles of drainage problems after recent storms, highlighted long-running projects including a $4 million Shboeni Creek workstream, and said converting the Kalin River to a county drain could cost $2'$4 million in legal work.
Bay County's Drain Commissioner delivered a 2025 annual report to the board on April 21, outlining a multi-year backlog of drainage work and the potential costs and legal steps for converting natural watercourses into county drains.
The commissioner said about 16 miles of ditching were planned earlier in the year but storm damage has expanded the list to more than 20 miles needing attention. "Some of these drains that we're looking at haven't been touched in 40, 50 years," he said, describing the work as a rolling "fluid list" that grows as storms uncover additional needs.
He said state legislative action last year provided funding in a range "from $5,000 a mile up to 10," which modestly increases capacity for work. The commissioner warned that converting a natural watercourse such as the Kalin River into a county drain would carry substantially larger legal and financial costs: "it would take approximately $2 to $4 million to make it a county drain just in the legal aspects," not counting construction.
The commissioner also cited the long-running Shboeni Creek project, noting it had been petitioned and litigated and briefly reached an estimated $32 million cost during court challenges; the current plan addresses a reduced scope at approximately $4 million, with work concentrated in neighboring Sagenol County.
The report underlined that some projects may require petitions, specialized drain boards, engineers, and eventual voter approval from property owners who benefit from a drain before costs can be assessed. The commissioner described a prior $32 million figure that was later reduced through litigation and redesign to $4 million for the current phase.
What this means: Repairing decades-old drains and pursuing larger drainage conversions involve long timelines, potential litigation and substantial local assessments, and the county will continue incremental ditch work while some major projects remain conditional on petitions and courts.
