• Any registered voter who lives within the townships of Groton, Henry, Riverside,  West Hanson, East Hanson, East Rondell, Garden Prairie and and parts of Putney .will decide Tuesday if they want to create a new watershed tax district to improve the drainage system. Landowners who do not live in the proposed district are not eligible to vote.
• If the Mud Creek Watershed District is approved, landowners will pay a tax to fund drainage improvements, said Roger Rix, a Groton farmer who is among those working to organize the district. Sixty percent of the voters in the proposed district area must approve the creation of the district.  There are 440 registered voters in the area.
• According to Rix, the proposed area covers 160,000 acres and will have a proposed starting budget of $60,000. Rix estimates the tax at about 35 cents an acre.
• Several farmers decided to create the district after experiencing significant flooding the past few years and felt it made sense for everyone to help with the drainage problem, Rix said.
• Mark Thompson, Putney, another organizer, said he believes the work the district could accomplish will have significant benefits to all the farmers in the area.
• "If we can do a good job of getting the water flowing into the Jim River, it's gonna help our farmland, because we won't have land underwater," Thompson said. "We won't have basements damaged from excess water, and it will help prevent our roads from being damaged."
• "The first project that would done, if the district is created," Thompson said. "Would be to clean Mud Creek from where it flows into the James River to the border of the district. The second project is to get water flowing properly into the James River from the Putney Township."
• "The James River Water Development District has pledged its assistance in working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Natural Resources and Conservation Service with obtaining permits and engineering studies," Rix said. "The James River Water District has also pledged $20,000 to help with the first project if the Mud Creek Watershed District is created."
• If the watershed district is approved, the Brown County Conservation District will appoint the initial five board members to run the district, Rix said.
• People who own farmland in the district, but do not live in the area, must pay the taxes on the lands, but cannot vote on the district's creation, which upsets some.
• "The landowners that live within the proposed district and some landowners that

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