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Akron
Beacon Journal
Drilling-rich
watershed district looking to reduce assessment paid by 500,000 Ohio
landowners
By
Bob Downing
April
16, 2014
Property
owners from Akron to the Ohio River could see a reduction in the
annual assessment paid to the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy
District starting next year.
The
reason: The district is flush with cash from Utica Shale leases and
royalties paid on natural gas and liquids produced from wells on
district-owned land.
Reducing
the assessment — about $12 a year for most landowners — will be
recommended Friday when the district’s five-member governing board
meets at 9 a.m. in New Philadelphia.
“We
believe it is not only prudent, but a responsibility of the
conservancy district to return some of the benefits the oil and gas
leases have generated for the MWCD to the property owners in the form
of a reduction in their annual assessments,” said John M.
Hoopingarner, the district’s executive director/secretary.
Last
year, the board directed staff to review the annual assessment paid
by the owners of nearly 500,000 parcels in the 18 counties that drain
into the Tuscarawas and Muskingum rivers. Next year is the earliest
the fee could be reduced.
The
assessment was first levied in 2009 amid protests from some vocal
landowners. It covers landowners in Summit, Stark, Wayne and 15 other
counties. The district collects about $11 million a year from the
assessment to ensure the safety of 14 dams and reservoirs in eastern
Ohio. The district’s board must review and approve the assessment
annually.
Any
action to reduce the assessment would not eliminate projects underway
or planned with assessment funds because the agency would use revenue
from oil and gas leases to supplement current collection levels, the
agency said.
The
proposed reduction drew support from four state legislators whom the
district briefed: state Sen. Troy Balderson, R-Zaneville; state Sen.
Lou Gentile, D-Steubenville; state Rep. Al Landis, R-Dover; and state
Rep. David Hall, R-Millersburg...
Read
the rest of the article at the Akron Beacon Journal
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