Last year, the district proposed what turned out to be a controversial readjustment of assessment fees. It had been around a dozen years since the Miami Conservancy District, which was created in 1915 in response to the devastating 1913 flood, increased its fees.
Between 1918 and 1922, the district built the flood protection system that originally included five dry dams and 43 miles of levees. Flood protection systems have been expanded in the decades since, but the readjustment was needed to maintain, improve and upgrade the system. Lodor said the MCD was spending money out of its reserves and would have been out of money by 2026 if increases in the MCD assessment did not happen.
Lodor said city and county leaders across the MCD’s nine-county jurisdiction have come together to talk about how to approach the assessment process.
In January, the first phase of a benefit assessment process study was completed, and that study is now being refined to help identify and discover alternatives to the historical methodology that’s been used for more than 100 years.
While the current assessment process has been readjusted six other times in the past 100-plus years, modifications are needed.
“We’ve done some benchmarking and working on different alternatives so that we can essentially develop a more sustainable funding model for the next generation of protection,” Lodor said.
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
But David Stark, who was a loud voice in fighting the seventh reassessment that would have increase threefold for some and as much as 10 and 50 times for larger property owners, said the MCD has not considered what he called “the most fair and equitable” option: a flat rate.
A year ago, Hamilton business owners, community leaders and elected officials were outraged by the planned readjustment, which included a protest, letter-writing campaign, and multiple meetings in City Council chambers with MCD officials. Hamilton Councilman Joel Lauer in April 2024 said he was “disgusted by the absurd assessment,” and Councilman Michael Ryan felt the MCD was “trying to ruin” the city’s pro-business environment as many impacted properties were in Hamilton’s revitalized downtown and urban core.
Stark said the flat rate of $19.99 paid by the parcel owners within the MCD’s boundaries — which are parts of nine counties — would raise more than $12.15 million. But if that assessment would be expanded to the entirety of the counties, that flat rate could be closer to $9.99.
“I don’t believe anyone’s going to sue over $9.99 a year appearing on their property taxes,” Stark said, adding “that is the most reasonable, equitable, fair and modern solution of all.”
However, Lodor said while it may seem simple to charge a flat rate, it’s not, saying the final new methodology must be " fair and defensible."
“We’re still in the process of evaluating options,” said Lodor. “While it’s simple to say to just charge everybody $19.99 and be done with it — i wish it were that simple, but it’s not — we’re doing the work to ensure we’re going to have a fair and defensible approach, and we also don’t want to rush through this. It needs to be right."
The MCD did pause the seventh readjustment of benefits, but they did vote to have an increase in property assessments on those properties impacted by the 1913 flood.
“We needed to have a rate increase last year because it had been too long and we were utilizing our reserves,” she said, adding they would have been out of money by 2026. “We are working as quickly as we can to develop an alternative methodology.”
Lodor said the partnership with Hamilton “is strong,” and Hamilton City Manager Craig Bucheit, and other city managers and county officials in the MCD’s nine-county district, has been involved in the study and being involved in discussions about the MCD’s future.
“I’ll be the first to admit, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing from the beginning,” she said. “But I want to take this as an opportunity to not only celebrate the Great Miami River, but also to engage in an open and honest conversation about what is the role of the Miami Conservancy District. What role do we play to keep the river, and by extension, the communities and regions safe and thriving.”
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