Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

645% increase in drain maintenance fee for some Tippecanoe Co residents

Tippecanoe Co GIS

Twenty property owners who live in northwestern Tippecanoe County will see a rate increase for drain maintenance.

The roughly 19,000 feet of the Hester-Mottsinger Regulated Drain is in need of maintenance. The county surveyor’s office reports about 500 feet of open ditch are in need of repair.

However, the fund dedicated for that work is currently $3,883 in the red. Wednesday, the county drainage board approved raising the 94 cents per acre rate to $7 per acre for the next eight years. That will generate $34,094 to repay the current debt and make the needed improvements.

The Hester-Mottsinger Drain is basically north of County Road 500 North and west of County Road 275 West in Wabash Township.

During a public hearing Wednesday, a resident asked why land Monsanto owns, which is south of C.R. 500 North and benefits from the drain, was not included.

Surveyor’s office Project Manager Jim Butcher says he spoke with a company representative, but there wasn’t enough information available to add the property.

“He confirmed that some of that does go north, but he didn’t have any maps, and since we didn’t have any maps, we couldn’t define the area and we went by the watershed based on the county contours,” he says.

Butcher says the watershed in the county is outlined based on where the surface water goes.

The land owners affected by the rate increase will pay the new assessment in May with their property taxes.