Watershed combination is approved

Following a short public hearing this morning, Jay County Commissioners, acting as the county drainage board, approved combining 26 watersheds into the Salamonie River watershed.
The plan, which was first discussed in March, moves the smaller watersheds near the river into the Salamonie watershed at its annual assessment rates of $1 per acre and $12.50 per plot.
All of the watersheds being combined have a positive balance so that the Salamonie is not “bailing out” any area currently in debt.
“Each one of these is in the black,” said drainage board president Jim Zimmerman.
The commissioners and county surveyor Brad Daniels said the move will allow for more work to be done in smaller watersheds that would be bankrupted if they needed any major repairs — as well as make it easier to collect assessments and track expenses when work is completed.
“We just think there’s a benefit to this,” Zimmerman said.
“This way there will be a larger pool of money to do work in these smaller watersheds,” Daniels said. “I think it’ll help you guys so you’ll be able to get more work done.”
The combination affects drainage assessments in 23 of the 26 watersheds.
Nine of the watersheds will see a decrease in both acreage and plot rates, two will see a decrease in lot rate but no change in acreage, two will see an increase in plot rate but decrease in acre rate, three will see an increase in the plot rate but no change in acreage, two will have a decrease in acre rate but no change in plot rate and five will experience increases in both rates.
If the balance in the watershed fund reaches four times the annual assessment, the tax is “shut off” and is not collected until it is needed again.
Daniels said the Salamonie has gone through periods where it was shut off for years at a time.
About 10 people showed up for the hearing and the drainage board handled a few questions on the combination, including a question as to why the county isn’t combining more watersheds.
The commissioners and Daniels said they didn’t think it would be fair to combine any watershed in debt into one with a positive balance, but hinted that as more come out of debt they may be combined, with a long range goal of perhaps having three major watersheds in the county for water that drains to the Salamonie, Wabash and Mississinewa rivers.
“As they come out of the red into the black, we’ll probably combine those too,” Zimmerman said.
With no further public comment, the commissioners approved the combination.
In other business this morning, the commissioners:
•Heard a presentation from Tim “Bo” Collins of Bliss McKnight with renewal rates for the county’s liability insurance. Bliss McKnight also submitted a quote to handle the county’s workman’s compensation insurance.
The commissioners will be making a decision on insurance providers this afternoon.
•Review bid specifications for two new police cruisers presented by Sheriff Ray Newton.
The commissioners gave an OK to the provided specs.
Newton said he will be soliciting prices from dealerships in the region as well as getting a state bid from Bloomington.[[In-content Ad]]