Some brace for big flood protection assessment hikes
Miami Conservancy District: Most will pay less than $250 annually to help fund $140M in projects.
The Miami Conservancy District is readjusting its appraisal of flood protection benefits this year, a process that hasn’t happened since 2012. Changes to fees collected for the region’s flood protection system will likely come into effect in 2025.
Officials say that roughly 83% of the properties covered by the Miami Conservancy District will pay less than $250 annually for two fees related to flood protections.
But increases for the other 17% can be much higher. And some business and housing leaders in the region point to the financial strain added expenses have during a time of high living costs.
One business manager in Hamilton is leading a campaign to oppose the increases after his agency’s property — an artist loft building in the city’s downtown — is slated to see its assessment increase from $1,208 to $10,810.
“It just breaks my heart,” said
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David Stark, the director of operations at ArtSpace Hamilton Lofts. “This is going to affect so many small businesses, and it will definitely significantly alter Hamilton itself for growth.”
Calculating assessments due
Proposed assessment changes include a new 1% capital assessment and a 0.59% increase to the 2.19% maintenance assessment 47,000 residents are already paying. The assessments will cover costs related to upkeep and rehabilitation of the levee and dam system.
The Miami Conservancy District says it 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.
The Miami Conservancy District hosted open houses in Dayton, Troy and Hamilton to offer information about the assessment
Assessments
ical environment,” said House Minority Leader Allison Russo, a Democrat from Columbus. “The reality is that rigged, oneparty rule and Republican infighting seem to have no end in sight here in Ohio’s General Assembly.”
DeWine said he wants to create a child care voucher program for families that meet income eligibility requirements and to use $85 million in federal funding for grants to expand child care offerings.
The voucher program would be open to families that make up to 200% of the federal poverty level, or $60,000 for a family of four. He estimated that it would help 8,000 children. He did not say how much money it would require, or what sort of grant would be available to each family.
Saying the state needs to retain more of its college graduates, DeWine said he wants to start collecting data that measures how many graduates get jobs within six months. He framed the effort as an accountability measure that will help students in picking a higher education institution to attend.
As part of an effort to help children learn, DeWine said he wants to ensure every child who fails a vision screening test in school can get a follow-up eye exam and, if needed, a pair of eyeglasses. Too many do not, he said, announcing a “Children’s Vision Strike Force” to work with vision care professionals.
“Ohio has never had a statewide plan to ensure that every Ohio child who needs glasses will get glasses,” DeWine said. “Now we do.”
DeWine pledged to improve various aspects of health care for infants and schoolchildren.
Every school should consider starting a schoolbased health clinic, DeWine said. His administration could help with technical assistance, he said.