The Marshall County Drainage Board held a public hearing on Monday to consider an increase for the maintenance assessment for the Metheny Ditch in Bourbon and Tippecanoe Township.
Maintenance was established on the Metheny Ditch in 1972 at a rate of 44 cents an acre with a minimum assessment of $5. The Town of Bourbon has been paying the annual assessment of $900 with an agreement between the Drainage Board and the Town Board for the portion of the town in the watershed. The annual assessment collected has been approximately $3,050.
County Surveyor said, “We are proposing to move the assessment up to a dollar twenty-five because the $.44 no longer is enough to handle the maintenance costs. The Town of Bourbon has already agreed to increase their assessment amount from $900 to $1,400.”
During the public comments David Metheny who lives on Elm Road asked if there was a proposed project for the ditch and if so the rate reflects the maintenance work I have done on the ditch?
County Surveyor Larry Fisher said they will be bidding out a maintenance project in January on the east arm of the ditch commonly referred to as the Bourbon arm.
Metheny then asked what side of the ditch they will be working from and if the trees will be removed from both sides of the ditch, when the project would be done and if they could look at the north end of the ditch near 12B. Fisher said, “On the wooded area we will take the trees off the one side and up the bank on the other side. The project should be complete before the farmers get back into the field to plant in the spring.
Clay Carlisle who lives on Lincoln Highway had a few concerns but it was determined that his property does not drain into the Metheny Ditch.
Since there was no serious opposition to the proposed increase to the drainage assessment the Marshall County Drainage Board increased the per acre rate from $.44 to $1.25, maintaining the minimum assessment at $5 and increasing the Town of Bourbon’s assessment from $900 to $1,400.
