An effort by Barberton, Norton and Copley Township to create a watershed district that would raise funds to fix mutual flooding problems has hit a snag that surprised local officials.
As it turns out, a big chunk of Barberton and a handful of homes in Norton already belong to another district that collects an annual tax to help with conservation projects.
Officials say some institutional knowledge was lost along the way, with no one in the three communities aware that the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District reaches into southern Summit County.
Plans for the new Wolf Creek Watershed Conservancy District, which was seeking legal status from Summit County Common Pleas Judge Alison McCarty, is now stalled while the three cities go back to the drawing board.
Norton City Administrator Valerie Wax Carr said the partners are still “dedicated to getting the watershed up and running” although the final format will need to change so that residents aren’t taxed for two watershed districts.
Options could include redesigning the Wolf Creek district for a smaller footprint, or becoming a subsidiary of the Muskingum group.
The need for flood mitigation was spotlighted in 2013 when runoff from a severe storm made parts of all three communities impassable. Wolf Creek, in particular, has been a source of flooding for decades, with residents, on occasion, having to be rescued from their homes by boat.
Barberton Mayor Bill Judge and Service Director Mike Vinay said when the three cities started discussing how to work together to find a solution, they had no idea that Muskingum encompassed much of the east side of Barberton and a few homes that belong to Norton but are in Wayne County.
They learned about Muskingum’s reach only after asking the court to create the Wolf Creek district.
Last month, local representatives visited with Muskingum officials and got a history lesson.
Muskingum was formed in 1933 and covers all or part of 18 counties — roughly 20 percent of the state.
“It’s the largest conservancy district in Ohio,” Barbara Bennett, director of administrative services for Muskingum, said. “The limits were set using the best technologies available in 1933, so the district is not exactly the same as the watershed boundary.”
All of Barberton, Norton and Copley are in the same watershed, which drains to the Tuscarawas River and eventually to the Ohio River. But the Muskingum conservancy only took in a few miles north of the Summit County line, including the Portage Lakes area.
Before 2009, Muskingum operated without the use of tax or public money, Bennett said. Most of its income came from recreation; it owns five parks and leases cottages and campsites. It also receives money from timbering, mining, and oil and gas operations.
But it’s also responsible for maintaining 12 dams and 10 permanent reservoirs, some of them 80 years old. In 2009 it received permission to levy a tax on property owners within its district to help maintain that system.
Residents, including many on Barberton’s east side and those Wayne County Norton homes, pay an annual $6 maintenance assessment.
Because that fee is added to the tax duplicate and collected by the Summit County Auditor, many residents — and local officials — may never have noticed it.
Muskingum has spent $6.5 million over the past eight years on projects within its borders, Bennett said.
She noted two in southwest Summit County in recent years: a $50,000 grant to Summit County Metro Parks to help purchase and preserve wetlands at Silver Creek in Norton in 2012, and $15,000 to a collaboration of local communities and agencies that are working on a Tuscarawas flood plain initiative in Coventry Township.
Norton’s Carr said the meeting with Muskingum was eye-opening.
“Their operation is impressive, and I really think they are doing some good work,” she said.
But nobody is in favor of taxing residents twice, so Barberton, Norton and Copley will need to come up with a new plan for raising money to fix their flooding problems.
“We aren’t giving up on it by any means, but we need to re-evaluate what our next move is,” Carr said.
Irv Sugarman, Copley’s law director and legal counsel for the Wolf Creek project, said he will make a more formal presentation to Barberton, Norton and Copley officials on their options within the next few weeks.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.