Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1906-05-02

BIC DIT!!cH AEAl llGsI
Many .latelested & psrtiss Ar Their
yleus sefore the County Board 81.
u Monday and Tues sdsy.

~ ~ g - ~
mar to, Lake w acond q came up Be-
fore the board Of county commits
sioners last Monday. A number lot
objections were raised by interested:
parties. The principal objection seemed
e be that " illmar was: assessed too
low and that consequently the farmers
who had land in the region. TO. be
drained: were assessed. too high. IT
seemed to be q general opinion that
the ditch movement had been: started:
primarily to- relieve Willmar and
furnish. the city with sewerage Mr..
P. j., Haley, who had taken the. s.initia-
tive in the movement, explained that
this was not so;. the farmers owning
submerged land around Grass Lake
had for some ten years been: talking
of q system of drainage that would
make those lands useful But finding
last summer that the southern part Of
the city was suffering from the excess
sive rainfall the past two years, the
farmers concluded this would be an
opportune time to get some aid from
the city for digging the ditch. The
ditch would not afford . sewerage
system for the city unless = septic
tank: was put in; it would merely dis
pose of the surface water. - r.. I = *s7=5 MI.
!: A number of individual claims Of
: -,yL y "
over assessment weremade: Mr.. Abbott
who had been sone of those: most active
in getting the movement started, ex-
planned that he had been very much
in favor of the ditch, but that he had
been assessed: so high that he: would
have to oppose the ditch even If he
had to take it into court. he has $50
acres in Grass Lake, on which he had
been assessed over $1,000. Most 81
this is in the lowest part Of the lake
and would be :of no value. for years
after being drained. Several others
raised the same objection. It was
finally decided by the board to refer
the matter, back to the: viewers for
correction. The viewers had the
matter under consideration Gil day
yesterday, and are still working on il
this morning, in the hope OF arriving
at some adjustment that will remove
the greatest objections: and make 1t
possible for the board to grant the
petition. '.:>'' -. .'-y: ~ /.
In regard to the. assessment on the
city it may be- explained hat the
attorney general 81 the state has de:
cided that no Individual assessment
for benefits can be made inside the
city limits, but the assessment must
be a made on the. city as a whole.
This made it difficult for the viewers,
as the principal benefits of the ditch
will be on certain property. owned by
q few persons Or by a corporation.
Had they been allowed to assess bene-
fits against these lands it would have
been a comparatively easy matter to
fix the benefits. But just how much
the city as a whole will be benefited
is a very difficult matter to ascertain,
and for this reason they made the
assessment on the city lighter than il
would have been if fixed on the prop.
erty directly benefited. 80. :
The Irving ditch petition came up
before the board yesterday, and is
still occupying the attention of the
board. There was large delegation
from the northern part of the county
present at the hearing. r:
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