MOUNT VERNON — Landowners are obligated to receive and dispose of storm water on their property. In rural areas, this often means a ditch leading to a creek or other tributary.
When a drainage problem arises, landowners who feed into the ditch can mutually agree on the solution, arrange for the work, and share in the cost.
Alternatively, they can petition the county to maintain the ditch on their behalf. In return, property owners pay an assessment for the maintenance.
Knox County maintains four such projects on behalf of landowners:
• North Branch of Ford Creek Ditch.
• Ralphie’s Ditch.
• A combined ditch and subsurface drainage pipe project.
• Stormwater ponds for a rural residential subdivision.
However, there is barely enough money in the ditch maintenance funds to mow, let alone spray or make repairs.
The Ohio Revised Code caps each petition ditch at 20 percent of the original estimated cost. Ohio code allows the commissioners to raise the cap every six years.
The commissioners can raise the assessment fee each year. However, once the fund reaches the 20 percent cap, residents stop paying into the fund.
When the fund (technically called the permanent assessment base) dips below the cap, residents once again pay the assessment.
“Because of inflationary increases in cost of materials, labor, equipment operation, even things like mowing and spraying on these ditches, we’re finding that the caps that we have for maintenance are not adequate at this point,” Rob Clendenning, district program manager at Knox Soil & Water Conservation District, told the commissioners on Thursday.
Clendenning proposed that the commissioners revisit the construction costs for the projects it manages.
This marks the six-year anniversary for the North Branch of Ford Creek Ditch.
North Branch of Ford Creek Ditch
Landowners petitioned for the ditch in 1977. The county must base its current construction costs on the original estimate.
The original estimate consisted of three items: excavation, clearing, and seeding/fertilization.
“So we can only update based on those three items,” Deputy Knox County Engineer Clint Cochran said.
“If we were to rebid this today, we would have 50 items on it; they break out estimates a lot more now.”
Cochran estimates it would take $285,000 to rebuild the approximately 5,000-foot-long ditch. At a 20% cap, the maximum amount the fund is allowed to collect is $57,192.
The current cap is $4,680. The commissioners last raised the cap in 1998.
Current maintenance costs are $3,000 for spraying, which would essentially deplete the fund. Additionally, there are mowing costs and an estimated $25,000 in ditch work needed.
The county engineer’s office mowed the ditch last year.
“When the engineer sent us the bill, I said we don’t have enough money in that fund to pay that,” County Administrator Jason Booth said. “So he just basically took what we could give him in the fund at that point.”
Who pays the assessment?
Only property owners whose land drains into the ditch pay the assessment. The assessment is based on how many acres you own that drain into the ditch.
Clendenning said the county currently assesses 122 parcels for Ford Creek. He said about a dozen parcels are either paying in and should not be, or are not paying in but should be.
“It’s easy for stuff to slip through the cracks on that,” Clendenning said. “You’ve got splits over time, and if the assessment doesn’t get added to a split or something like that, then you’ve got somebody that now has a 3- or 4- or 5-acre residential site that’s not paying in just because it didn’t get added in the split.”
The assessment is based on acres, not land use.
“If your water runs into it, then you benefit from that and you’re included in the assessment,” Clendenning said. “If I have 100 acres but only 10 acres is in the watershed for this project, then I’m only paying the assessment for those 10 acres.”
Clendenning said Ford Creek needs some attention, but “as ditches go, it’s still in reasonably good shape.”
However, he said the intensity of storm events has changed over time. Additionally, residential development increased in the watershed.
“All of those things increase flow through the ditch and the likelihood that you’ll see some bank erosion here and there. We do have some spots where we need to address,” Clendenning said.
“That is probably the most expensive thing that we do on any of the ditch projects, when we’ve got to go in and do rock reinforcement for erosion control on the banks.”
Commissioners revisit assessment caps amid inflation
The commissioners set a public hearing for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 16, at the Memorial Theater to assess whether they should raise the cap on the North Branch of Ford Creek.
Clendenning and Cochran will determine the number of parcels to be assessed for the ditch project.
They will also recommend a new assessment rate for the commissioners to set in May 2026.
County engineer Cameron Keaton recommends bringing in 20% of the cap each year, or $11,400. Booth said the county needs at least $6,000 annually just for preventive maintenance.
Ralphie’s Ditch will reach the six-year mark in 2026 and faces the same problem as Ford’s Ditch. The current cap on Ralphie’s Ditch is $3,600.
The ditch needs an estimated $1,700 in repairs.
“We need to make sure that these [ditches] are put on our radar and from here on out every six years, these are relooked at,” Booth said. “Because obviously years and years have gone by, and that’s how we’re in this in this predicament.”
Miscellaneous
The service center’s back entrance will reopen on Monday at 7 a.m.
The original handicapped parking spots will reopen, and the U.S. Post Office box will return to its original space.
Ellis Brothers submitted an estimate of $15,000 to demolish the former caretaker’s house on the Knox County Fairgrounds. The Knox County Land Bank has demolition money available for the project.
After utility companies turn off the utilities, the fair board can proceed with the demolition.
Mount Vernon School Superintendent Bill Seder sent a letter requesting that the commissioners include the school districts in future conversations about property tax issues.
He wrote that while he appreciated the commissioners’ effort to help residents through the piggyback homestead exemption, the decision would greatly impact the school’s programs and services.
Referencing state-level efforts toward property tax relief, Seder noted that “each decision made in isolation may seem manageable, but together they have the potential to create meaningful challenges for lonog-term fiscal sustainability.”