Legal Advertisement Notice of Hearing for Reassessment

Legal Advertisement
Notice of Hearing for
Reassessment for LW
JONES Watershed

A Public Hearing will be
held in the Johnson
County West Annex Audi-
torium, Franklin, Indiana,
starting at 6:00 P.M., Sep-
tember 1, 2026. Exhibits
open at 5:30 p.m. with
staff available to answer
questions.
A Public Hearing is
called, to receive the
Johnson County Survey-
ors Report on LW JONES
Watershed Five-Year Ro-
tation Schedule Water-
shed Assessments for
periodic maintenance of
the regulated drain named
herein, being based on the
existing maintenance re-
port. (IC36-9-27-42) This
was previously heard dur-
ing the June 16th hearing
but continued until Sep-
tember 1st hearing.
The Johnson County
Surveyor has reported that
the Johnson County Wa-
tershed Maintenance As-
sessments (Schedule of
Assessments), inade-
quately address the cur-
rent uses, capacity, and
needs of the county regu-
lated drains, and the esti-
mate of the cost of main-
taining the drain was in-
sufficient.
The Spring of 2022
Johnson County Surveyor
began updating all the
Johnson County Water-
shed Maps (physical
boundary realignment as
Phase 1 (completed Sep-
tember 2022); the next
step was (phase 2) in
which each drain is to be
re-evaluated, studied, and
a New Conceptual
Schedule of Assessment
be proposed based on
current costs of drain re-
pair, land classification, ei-
ther as Urban or Rural
(completed February
2024). Our next step was
the Reassessment Hear-
ings in June 2024. At the
hearings it was deter-
mined that the board
would not wait 40 years
between revaluations but
instead review 10 water-
sheds on a five-year rota-
tion beginning in 2026.
The majority of these
regulated drain tiles and
open ditches were created
to drain agricultural land,
not urban development.
The watershed boundaries
originally used to deter-
mine which properties to
assess were derived from
contour maps from the
1980s and, as of the start
of this assessment study
in 2022, had not been up-
dated over the last 40
years. Current assess-
ment rates were reviewed
and approved at the June
2024 Reassessment
Hearings. You are receiv-
ing this notice because
your watershed is in LW
Jones watershed being re-
vised for reassessment on
a five-year rotation (2026,
2031, 2036).
Using several updated
data sources, each of the
48 watersheds were
re-delineated to reflect
current conditions. Follow-
ing that effort, assessment
rates were re-calculated
for each watershed based
on current and future land
use and projected drain
maintenance needs
(amount and type of work,
type of construction, loca-
tion of drain, time of year).
The new assessment
rates were calculated
based on a parcel's prop-
erty class where residen-
tial, agricultural and
tax-exempt properties are
charged based on total
land area. Commercial /
Industrial properties are
additionally charged
based on the amount of
impervious area on the
parcel.
Notice: That no less
than ten (10) days before
the boards hearing on a
Five-Year Schedule of As-
sessment report, an
owner, or owners agent, of
lands affected by the re-
port or by the schedules of
damages and assess-
ments must file with the
board written objections.
Each objector may file
written evidence in sup-
port of the objectors ob-
jections. The failure of an
owner to file written objec-
tions constitutes a waiver
of the owners right to sub-
sequently object, on the
grounds stated in this sub-
section, to any final action
of the board. On or before
the day of the hearing, the
county surveyor shall, and
any owner of land affected
by the proposed Five-Year
Schedule, may, cause
written evidence to be filed
in support of or in rebuttal
to any objection filed un-
der subsection. The board
shall consider the objec-
tions and evidence filed,
may adjourn the hearing
from day to day or to a
specific day certain, and
may issue an order per-
mitting additional written
evidence to be filed in
support of or in rebuttal to
the objections and evi-
dence previously filed. Af-
ter considering all of the
objections and evidence,
the board may amend the
schedules of damages
and assessments, and the
county surveyor may mod-
ify the county surveyors
report, as justice may re-
quire.
Written questions, con-
cerns, and objections
must be written and re-
ceived prior to hearing in
care of the county survey-
ors office, 86 W Court
Street, Franklin IN 46131
or calling 317-346-4341.

60162548
(J) 08-01-2026