From the Northwest
Indiana Times:
The per-parcel fee establishes a permanent funding source to maintain Little Calumet River levees in Lake County. It was approved by the Indiana General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels in March 2012.
Despite initial grumbling last year by the Hobart and Lake Station city councils, the levee fee passed the House 84-10 and was approved 50-0 by the Republican-controlled Senate.
Opposition softened after state Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, inserted language into House Bill 1376 allowing the commission to spend money raised by the levee fee on flood control in any community paying the fee.
That annual fee, which will be assessed only on the spring property tax bills every year, is based on how the property is used, and covers property in the Little Calumet River and Burns Waterway watersheds.
Owners of residential parcels will pay $45 a year; agricultural, $90; commercial, $180; and industrial or utility, $360. The fee is in the Special Section portion of the bill and will be listed as the Little Calumet River Watershed/Maintenance Fee.
Those paying the fee include property owners in Munster, Highland, Griffith, Dyer, Schererville, Lake Station, New Chicago, Hobart, Merrillville, most of Winfield and Crown Point, southern portions of Hammond and Gary, and part of St. John.
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