By STAN MADDUX
Indiana Correspondent INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Some northern Indiana farmers could pay higher property taxes to better control flooding along the Kankakee and Yellow rivers under a measure before Gov. Eric Holcomb for his signature. The Indiana House on April 18, almost unanimously, adopted a mandate for eight counties along both rivers to contribute annual funding toward a solution. Each county has the option of imposing a special assessment on landowners within the river basins to generate their share of the cost. The vote came two days after the state Senate overwhelming approved the legislation, in response to what’s believed a gradually worsening situation marked by record flooding during a major snow melt and torrential rains in late February 2018. Frank Gorski, a grain and hog farmer near La Crosse, said he doesn’t mind paying more taxes because of the higher price tag of recovering from a flood. “That’s a drop in the bucket compared to all of our other expenses,” he noted. His land closest to the banks of the Kankakee was covered by more than 10 feet of water last year. Flooding crept to the edge of his swine barns containing 3,000 hogs and two grain bins each holding 5,000 bushels of soybeans. Under the legislation, funding is based on the amount of land each county drains into the rivers. Counties can use existing dollars or levy a special assessment on properties within the river basins to meet their obligations. No more than $1 per acre can be assessed on farmland; $7 is the maximum levy for residential parcels. Commercial properties could be assessed no more than $50, while $360 is the maximum levy for industrial and utility properties within the basins, according to the legislation. If the bill is signed, the money will go to the Kankakee River Basin Commission and Yellow River Basin Development Commission to spend on improved flood control. According to the Legislative Services Agency, LaPorte County would be the largest contributor, at just over $700,000 annually. The amounts paid by Lake, Porter, Newton, Jasper, Marshall, St. Joseph, and Starke counties would range from $103,000-$428,000 each. Scott Pelath, executive director of the Kankakee River Basin Commission, said another $2.3 million from the state over the next two years would also go toward flood control under the legislation. He said taming the Kankakee has grown in urgency from lack of maintenance in the century since the vast marshland surrounding it was drained to create rich farmland and levies created from the river’s sandy bottom placed along the receded edges. Much of the flooding stems from sandy sediment on the Yellow River’s bottom flowing into the Kankakee, which also fills up from erosion of the sandy banks. “The water picks it up and carries it and it winds up downstream all the way to Illinois,” Pelath explained. Initially, he said the focus of the 20-year plan will be stopping the flow of sand from the Yellow River by leveling banks 40 feet high in spots and seeding them with native vegetation. Laying down trees with the roots still in the channel to further limit erosion and stabilizing levies are also planned early in the process. Over time, Pelath said the outcome is water flowing more toward the center of the river and a self-dredging Kankakee able to hold more water. Holcomb signing the legislation would solidify a new team approach to flood control along the rivers to finally address more effectively a major longstanding issue. “This is a problem that absolutely requires a regional solution. If you don’t have one, what happens is each county justifiably tries to battle the river in its own way and that can result in a worse overcome for everybody,” Pelath said. House Enrolled Act 1270 went to Holcomb’s desk on May 1. Even if he has not signed it by May 8, barring his veto, it will become law this week. |
