Dear Editor:
In response to letter to the editor, “Lake Wawasee residents keep paying, but for what” in the June 29 issue:
Here are some facts:
Publicly available information for the Turkey Creek Dam and Dike Conservancy District where financial information for the district is, or will be, publicly available:
Indiana Gateway
Indiana Gateway contains various information that a unit of government is required to file annually. The relevant information on this website that is filed by the district is as follows:
Annual Financial Report — Contains information on the finances of the district for each year filed (beginning cash balance by funds, receipts, disbursements, and ending cash balance by fund).
Contains other miscellaneous information for many units of government, but for the District the only other applicable schedule in this report is the capital assets which contain the District’s capital asset ledger.
Budget — Contains all relevant information for the sistrict’s budget that is submitted for the Department of Local Government Finance’s approval each year. This includes the requested appropriations, estimate of revenues, and actual property tax distributions among other things.
All of the information can be found through this link by navigating from here to the relevant reports: gateway.ifionline.org/report_builder/
Department Of Local Government Finance Website
The DLGF website contains the county budget order which shows for each year the district’s net assessed value, tax levy, approved budget by fund, and tax rate.
• Contains other reports for each county containing financial information, but the other reports are not relevant to the district.
• This link goes directly to Kosciusko County’s page on the DLGF website where the budget orders can be found: in.gov/dlgf/county-specific-information/kosciusko/
Indiana State Board Of Accounts Audit Database
The audit database contains all audits for units of government going back several years. Audits are posted on this website typically within days after completion of the audit by the State Board of Accounts or another audit firm the State Board of Accounts outsources the audits to if applicable.
While the District has not yet been audited since being formed, once it is audited in the near future, the audit will be post on this website and can be found at the following link: audit.sboa.in.gov/.
For Turkey Creek Dam & Dike Conservancy District freeholders that have been following The Mail-Journal coverage of every board meeting since the conservancy district was formed, they would know following the completion of the initial repair of the Flood Control Device our engineering vendor performed an above water inspection and provided a list of recommended repairs that would minimize deterioration in the future.
Additionally, the conservancy board commissioned an underwater inspection (which had never been done before) that revealed additional repair recommendations necessary for proper operation of the actual flood control gates and would minimize deterioration of the underwater structure in the future.
These repairs will begin the week after July 4 and are scheduled to be completed in August, at which time the TCDDCD will be able to submit its final work report to the DNR on the Dam & Dike project.
As for the “hundreds of dollars in extra taxes each year for projects that have been completed?” claim, the financial reports will clearly document this is untrue.
From a broad overview perspective, approximately 47% of the tax our freeholders pay is placed in a seperate fund that is dedicated to be used at some future date when the flood control structure needs further major repairs and/or complete replacement.
Approximately 53% of the taxes our freeholders pay is for the general operation of the conservancy district, financial management advisors (Baker Tilly Municipal Advisors), legal advisor (Blachly, Tabor, Bozik & Hartman Attorneys), insurance on the dam and dike required by the State Board of Accounts and lake level management & reporting. Board members receive no compensation or expense reimbursement.
As was represented since the inception of the conservancy district below is an overview representation of total tax charge by appraised value of the freeholder’s property. The goal has always been to protect the value of the freeholder’s property on Lake Wawasee, Syracuse Lake and Mudd lake by ensuring the flood control device and dike assets were replaced where needed, properly maintained and that when the time came for full replacement, funds will have been set aside to cover that replacement cost.
Estimated Tax 2025
The estimated annual tax payment on residential homeowners is:
$300,000 Assessed Value: $57.60.
$500,000 Assessed Value: $96.
$750,000 Assessed Value: $144.
$1,000,000 Assessed Value: $192.
As always, the TCDDCD Board will remain transparent and continue to take actions that will protect and enhance conservancy district freeholder’s home and property value.
TCDDCD Board of Directors
William Pipp, president