MCCD ASSESSMENT BILLING POLICY
MARGARET CREEK CONSERVANCY DISTRICT
MAINTENANCE ASSESSMENT
METHODOLOGY POLICIES
GENERAL STATEMENT
All parcels within the legal boundaries of MCCD and within the MCCD watershed shall be assessed unless exempt from assessment by law or MCCD.
The total assessment levied upon each parcel is based upon an estimate of the total runoff from each property which will be determined as follows:
80% of the total annual assessment based upon the impervious area of the parcel, plus
20% of the total annual assessment based upon the remaining pervious parcel area.
If a property owner desires to appeal their assessment based on any part of the rules/policies contained herein; it shall be filed with the MCCD staff by filing an “Assessment Review Application”.
POLICY 1
Definition of Residential and Non-Residential Properties
For the purposes of the Margaret Creek Conservancy District (MCCD) maintenance assessment, a residential parcel shall be defined as follows:
A single-family residential property; or
A two (2) family residential property (duplex); or
A three (3) family residential property (triplex).
Unless otherwise specified with the Maintenance Assessment Methodology Policies, all other properties are classified as non-residential property.
Single Residential properties shall be charged one (1) Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) plus the remaining area of the parcel times the rate for that remaining pervious area.
All Two Family Residential and larger have had the impervious area measured and the ERU’s for each computed along with the rate for pervious area.
POLICY 2
Agricultural Properties
For the purpose of the Margaret Creek Conservancy District (MCCD) maintenance assessment, all vacant agricultural parcels shall be charged one (1) Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) up to 26.5 acres. Vacant Agricultural Parcels that exceed 26.5 acres will be assessed one (1) ERU plus the pervious area rate times the acreage that exceeds 26.5 acres. Agricultural properties shall be identified based upon the land use code as designated within the database of the County Auditor’s records.
All non-vacant Agricultural Parcels will be charged one ERU plus the rate for pervious area.
POLICY 3
Undeveloped Properties
Undeveloped parcels (no structure) are classified in the database of the County Auditor’s records as “vacant”. This classification is further classified as residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, etc.
For the purposes of the maintenance assessment, undeveloped properties shall be charged a minimum of one (1) Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU). Vacant parcels with pervious area greater than 26.5 acres will be charged one ERU plus the rate for the pervious area in excess of 26.5 acres.
POLICY 4
Calculation Protocol
The contribution of runoff is the basis to determine the assessment per for Margaret Creek Conservancy District (MCCD). The ERU plus 20% area method is used as the methodology for apportioning the annual assessment, utilizing area, and runoff coefficient (impervious and pervious) to determine the Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) within a statistical sample of residential property. A single residential ERU shall be established as the basis for evaluating all other land use classifications.
The following round methods will be used:
Round the ERU to the nearest whole number using the rounding protocol of:
.01 - .49 round down
.50 - .99 round up
Round the Assessment to the nearest cent using the conventional rounding protocol of:
.000 - .0049 round down
.005 - .009 round up
It is the intention that when an ERU is any amount less than 1.0, to round up to 1.0.
POLICY 5
Exemption of Certain Properties or
Land Use Types from Assessment Charges
Properties exempt from the Margaret Creek Conservancy District (MCCD) assessments pursuant to state or federal statute, include the following:
MCCD Assessment Exemptions
Community College District ………………………………………………………… RC 3354.15
Technical College District ……………………………………………………………. RC 3357.14
University Branch District …………………………………………………………… RC 3355.11
Capital Square (Review and Advisory Board) ……………………………. RC 105.41 (K)
Convention Facilities Authority …………………………………………………… RC 351.12
Air Quality Development Authority ……………………………………………. RC 3706.15
Turnpike Commission …………………………………………………………………. RC 5537.20
Transportation Improvement District ………………………………………… RC 5540.14
Bridge Commission …………………………………………………………………….. RC 5593.22
Regional Water and Sewer Districts …………………………………………… RC 6119.40
Water Development Authority ……………………………………………………. RC 6121.16
Supreme Court facilities/grounds ………………………………………………. RC 2503.45
Public Facilities Commission ………………………………………………………. RC 154.14
Publicly-Owned College or University ……………………………………….. RC 3345.12 (M)
Monument and Memorials for Distinguished Deceased Persons ……. RC 5709.16
Federal Lands …………………………………………………………………………….. RC 159.05
Solid Waste Treatment Facilities ……………………………………………….. RC 6123.16
State Lands ……………………………………………………. Fifth District Court of Appeals
Cemeteries ………………………………………………………………………………….. MCCD BOA
All other 600 Class Tax Exempt parcels are subject to the assessment.
All 800 Class Public Utility parcels will be subject to the assessment.
All U.S. Government and State of Ohio parcels will be considered exempt from this assessment based on current State and Federal law.
All State owned College and University parcels (LUC 670) would be considered exempt in accordance with State law.
Those parcels with no Auditor assigned Land Use Code, an estimated 319, are exempt from assessment unless it is determined that such parcels contain buildings or impervious area that should be included under the assessment.
POLICY 6
Public Roadways
Public roadways and their associated rights-of-way are considered part of the storm water conveyance system and as such are not subject to the Margaret Creek Conservancy District (MCCD) maintenance assessment.
POLICY 7
Billing Adjustments
During the billing system development process, errors will be made and not discovered until after billing occurs. Depending on the type of error that was made, adjustments will need to be made to a parcel owner’s bill. Typically, some of these types of errors are as follows:
Incorrect Parcel ID Number applied;
Parcel ID Number matched with incorrect property;
Estimated impervious area was either too low or too high (incorrect land use or errors in gross area);
Unintended Consequences
The Margaret Creek Conservancy District (MCCD) will allow for retroactive billing adjustments for any and all types of discovered billing errors, for a period not to exceed three years. Any amendment to the rules or policy change established by the Board of Appraisers in any year can only be applied to the following year assessment and is not subject to retroactive billing adjustment for the year in which the amendment was made or any prior year. Therefore, any successful appeal will be applied to assessments the following year. Exceptions and variations to this policy are expected as good customer service and should be applied whenever possible.
The initial billing date is defined as the date on the first tax bill that includes the assessment.
The burden shall be on the property owner to have any adjustments made to their assessment by submitting an “Assessment Review Application”.
POLICY 8
Condominiums
All residential condominiums defined in the County Auditor’s record within the jurisdictional boundary and within the watershed boundary of the Margaret Creek Conservancy District (MCCD) shall be assessed as follows:
Condominiums with individual lot numbers will have the impervious area measured and each parcel assessed individually. Common areas will be measured and prorated across each individual condo unit along with the rate for pervious area.
Condominiums without individual lot numbers for each unit will be measured as a group and the underlying parcel assessed.
Each individual Condominium unit in a multi-story building will be subject to assessment. The apportioned assessment will equal one-half ERU.
POLICY 9
Apartments
The Margaret Creek Conservancy District (MCCD) maintenance assessment shall be billed to the owner(s) of apartment complexes, not the individual tenants.
POLICY 10
Manufactured Home Parks
Manufactured home parks will be considered as one parcel, the impervious area measured for the entire parcel and the mobile homes counted and multiplied by an average impervious area per unit.
POLICY 11
Leases and Similar Arrangements
Land contracts, land leases and other similar arrangements will be treated the same and the Margaret Creek Conservancy District (MCCD) maintenance assessment shall be billed to the property owner(s).
POLICY 12
Parcels In/Out of MCCD Boundary
This policy is relative to the properties that touch the Margaret Creek Conservancy District’s (MCCD) political/jurisdictional or watershed boundary. Possible cases exist:
Most of the parcel area is within the watershed boundary;
Most of the parcel area is outside the watershed boundary
About half of the parcel is inside the boundary.
Within the Margaret Creek Subdistrict legal jurisdiction but outside the MCCD watershed
A parcel that touches the MCCD political boundary and is completely within the watershed boundary shall be considered as “in” and shall be assessed pursuant to the Billing Policies.
Parcels that straddle the watershed boundary shall be considered “in” and assessed based upon the entire parcel.
If any part of a parcel lies within the jurisdictional/political boundary but outside the watershed boundary of MCCD it shall be considered as “out” and not be subject to the assessment.
POLICY 13
MCCD Benefit Appraisal
The Margaret Creek Conservancy District (MCCD) Board of Appraisers established an appraisal of all benefits resulting from the Official Plan of the MCCD, including all amendments.
Each parcel within the MCCD is assessed based upon its estimated contribution of runoff utilizing the methodology adopted by the Board of Appraisers.
POLICY 14
Average Percent Impervious Area
The apportionment of the assessment is based on the estimated contribution of runoff from each land use classification within the Margaret Creek Conservancy District watershed.
A Statistical Sample (95% Confidence Level with 5% Confidence Interval), or approximately 336 out of 2,664 non-vacant residential parcels, were measured to determine the typical impervious area for each residential parcel which will represent one (1) ERU (Equivalent Residential Unit). One (1) ERU shall be equal to 3,800 square feet.
POLICY 15
Miscellaneous Issues
Because the Auditor’s “Acres” file for all parcels is not complete, the computed GIS polygon area for the parcel will be used to compute the assessment. For those parcels for which the impervious area is measured, the difference between the recorded parcel acreage and the polygon area will be computed and if this difference exceeds 10%, the area will be reviewed.
The total annual assessment for any parcel, or two or more contiguous parcels with the same owner of record, shall not exceed $2,000.00
All parcels contribute runoff even those that are vacant, therefore vacant parcels will be assessed the minimum assessment of one (1) ERU.
Parcel owners who believe the impervious area computations are not representative of the actual impervious area may submit additional information for re-evaluation, and if justified, the charge will be modified accordingly.
Under the MCCD Appraisal of Benefits Methodology, benefits are assigned based on a parcel’s impervious area and estimated contributions of runoff. The Board of Appraisers recognizes that by utilizing high-resolution aerial imagery it is possible to delineate a more precise impervious area. Accordingly, the impervious area may be measured using current aerial imagery resulting in a new benefit appraisal.
All gravel parking lots and driveways will be considered pervious area and not included in the impervious area measurements. Gravel piles associated with aggregate mining areas will not be measured.
Any parcel with a computed less than $2.00 will be assigned an assessment of zero ($0.00) in accordance with State Law.
All non-vacant Commercial and Industrial properties will have the impervious area measured and ERU determined along with the rate for pervious area.
Provided a parcel is less than 1000 square feet with no impervious area, it shall be eligible for an assessment of $0.00 (zero), provided the property owner submits an application for an Assessment Review.
NOTE: Policy 15, Item #9 was added to the Assessment Policy by the Board of Appraisers on April 24, 2014.
