Under the new maintenance assessment rate and the capital assessment rate, a home on the riverfront in Dayton will see its flood protection charges double.
The Conservancy Court, which consists of nine common pleas court judges from counties covered by the Miami Conservancy District, in a 6-1 vote approved the maintenance assessment rate on Friday at the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in Dayton.
Some Hamilton leaders said the updated assessments, although lower than previously proposed charges that would have come with the reappraisal of property throughout the region, will still be costly property owners who pay for flood protection.
“It’s far past the time for us to reconsider how we pay for these costs,” said Craig Bucheit, the city manager of Hamilton. “Thousands of people, thousands of properties across the watershed benefit from the system and everyone who benefits from the system should be burdened to some extent.”
Reappraisal paused
The Miami Conservancy District earlier this year paused plans to reassess property values in the region. That process would have allowed the district to use current property values instead of values from its last reappraisal in 2012 to calculate assessments.
Running concurrent with the reappraisal was a proposed increase to the maintenance rate thousands of property owners are already paying. This increase would have brought the maintenance rate from 2.19% to 2.78%.
Data obtained by this news organization shows the proposed assessments would have left owners of hundreds of properties across the region paying more than $1,000 a year for flood protection. This includes dozens of properties that could pay more than $10,000 per year; one property owner was looking at assessments of roughly $478,000.
The pause in the reappraisal came after Ohio lawmakers asked for a delay in the process in an April 19 letter to the district and public outcry from property owners in Butler County.
Miami Conservancy District General Manager MaryLynn Lodor told the Conservancy Court on Friday that the updated assessment rates would still be applied to 2012 property values.
She said historically, property owners have seen increases to their assessments as their property increased in value between appraisals of flood protection benefits, but not quite at the magnitude they saw them this year.
Maintenance, capital needs
The maintenance rate of 3.35% was approved by the district’s board of directors this summer; the Conservancy Court’s vote on the rate made it official.
District officials said they need roughly $9.8 million annually to maintain the region’s levee and dam system and to meet requirements set by law for what they must keep in their operation fund.
District officials on Friday said the updated maintenance rate will likely cover tax years from 2025 to 2027. A 1% capital assessment will also appear as an Miami Conservancy District charge on 2025 tax bills.
The Miami Conservancy District says it also has identified about $140 million in short-term and long-term projects needed to ensure levees, dams and channels across the region remain safe and effective. Aging infrastructure, extreme weather events and increasing rainfall are putting pressure on the regional flood protection system, which has critical maintenance, repair, rehabilitation and reinvestment needs.
Property owners aren’t currently paying a capital assessment, and the last capital assessment expired in 2022. That assessment was set at a rate of 0.54%.
Under the new rate, a home located at 347 W. Stewart St. in Dayton had a property value of $32,760 in 2012. Under the updated assessments, it will be charged more than $97. For 2023, the property was charged roughly $49 for flood protection.
Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth voted against the maintenance assessment rate on Friday. He pointed out that the 3.35% maintenance assessment rate, paired with the new capital rate, would be essentially doubling the rate property owners are paying now.
Study upcoming
The first phase of the Miami Conservancy District’s benefit assessment study is launching this month and will span through December, according to conservancy district officials.
The study — which will be conducted by Stantec Consultant Services Inc. — aims to improve the current flood protection benefit assessment methodology used by the Miami Conservancy District. It will include evaluating current procedure, exploring additional direct and indirect benefits to the broader community and assessing alternative funding strategies.
“The Miami Conservancy District is committed to serving the region’s residents, businesses, and communities and we pledge to work collaboratively with stakeholders”, said Lodor. “We urge the affected homeowners and businesses to remain patient as we work to analyze and update the benefits provided by the flood protection system that protects the region’s interests.”
The district uses a formula that multiplies the benefit properties receive from the flood protection system by the rates the district charges for the assessments. To do this, the district calculated a property’s “flood factor” by using mapping technology.
Only properties that were flooded during the Great Flood of 1913 are currently charged for flood protection. The study will look into the possibility of charging properties that benefit from the levee and dam system indirectly, officials said.
Increases could impact small businesses, nonprofits
David Stark, of Artspace Lofts in Hamilton and the Keep Hamilton Afloat campaign, said on Friday that the updated assessment charges will see his property’s bill increase significantly.
“I suppose we Hamiltonians are supposed to feel blessed about it – and make no mistake, we are pleased that nobody is being asked to pay up to 500-1,000+% more now, like we were first told in late March,” he said.
Stark said Artspace will see a $1,189 increase in flood protection charges under the new assessment rates. He said this will be difficult for residents of the Hamilton-based affordable housing program — as well as nonprofits and small business owners at large.
“Times are already tough enough for the good, resilient and proud people of Butler County,” he said. “So while these new increases aren’t really reassuring of the greater degree of trust that most of us were hoping we would have felt secure in by this point, we remain pleased that it isn’t the sheer absurdity of the 7th appraisal increases that were previously attempted.”
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