MWCD May Reduce Assessments Thanks to Shale Money
With shale money rolling in, MWCD can afford to reduce assessments |
Property owners from Akron to the Ohio River could see a reduction starting next year in the annual assessment paid to the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District.
The reason is that the district is flush with cash from Utica shale leases and royalties paid on natural gas and liquids produced from wells on district-owned lands.
Reducing the assessment — about $12 a year for most landowners — will be recommended by district staff on Friday when the district’s governing board meets at 9 a.m. in New Philadelphia.
How much the reduction might be and whether it might include a suspension of the all or most of the assessment must be determined by the district’s five-member board of directors.
"We believe it is not only prudent, but a responsibility of the conservancy district to return some of the benefits the oil and gas leases have generated for the MWCD to the property owners in the form of a reduction in their annual assessments," said John M. Hoopingarner, the district’s executive director/secretary.You can read more by clicking here.
$12 a year doesn't seem like much when the MWCD has taken in millions of dollars from shale drilling, but I guess it's better than nothing.
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