LUCAS COUNTY, Ohio — The Lucas County Engineer's Office wants to make sure residents in Lucas, Fulton and Henry counties know about future watershed work.
The office said the work needs to be done to prevent flooding and it's a project that'll cost residents.
"I do not have any flooding; I do not have any ditches; I've asked the question: Why?" Lucas County resident Sherry Hawkins said.
A lot of people have the same question.
RELATED: 'Nobody can afford it': Some northwest Ohioans upset about paying for Swan Creek watershed cleanup
QUESTION ONE
If you don't have a ditch on your property, do you have to pay for the cleanup?
THE SOURCE
THE ANSWER
Yes, even if you don't have a ditch on your property, you still have to pay.
WHAT WE FOUND
"It's very important that we keep our drainage infrastructure maintained because if we don't, it's just going to result in more flooding, more damages from log jams; a lot of impacts to our community," Lucas County Engineer Mike Pniewski said.
Pniewski said when it rains, some of the water that lands in Lucas, Fulton and Henry counties then ends up in either Swan Creek or Ten-Mile Creek.
"So, if you don't necessarily have a ditch on your property, your water is used by the ditch," he said. "So just like any other utility, if you make use of it, you have the responsibility to share in the cost of maintaining it."
Another question people are asking is how much they will have to pay. Residents received white cards like the one pictured above in the mail with several figures.
"I got this first notice for $19,000 two weeks ago and then last week I got this for $23,000 as a correction," said Monclova resident Phil Martin.
He thinks he has to pay the number in the last column the maintenance base.
QUESTION TWO
Will residents have to pay the maintenance base number?
THE SOURCE
THE ANSWER
No, people will not have to pay the maintenance base amount found in the box on the far right of the card. People will have to pay the estimated first year assessment.
WHAT WE FOUND
"The maintenance base is a number that we use to proportion out what people's assessments are," Pniewski said. "No one will ever get assessed the maintenance base."
He said it's the number in the second column, the estimated first year assessment, that people will have to pay per year.
He said it averages anywhere from $10-30 an acre depending on an individual's property.