Dear Editor,

I’m writing today to raise an important question about accountability and transparency in local government. Specifically, I believe it is time to reexamine the continued existence of the Turkey Creek Dam and Dike Conservancy District, a special tax district formed with a narrow mission: to repair the Syracuse Dam (water control device) and stabilize the Wawasee Village Dike. That mission has been completed — yet the tax remains.

The repair timeline tells the full story. The structural restoration of the Syracuse Dam was completed in 2020. Work on the dike concluded by May 2023, as confirmed in conservancy board meeting reports and news coverage. These efforts were successful and funded through a combination of private donations, county drainage funds, and the conservancy’s initial tax collections.

However, Beacon GIS property records confirm that the Town of Syracuse transferred ownership of the dam to the conservancy district via quitclaim deed filed in May 2023, notably after all major repairs were completed. This transfer occurred after the mission was fulfilled, not before. That fact matters.

When the district was formed, residents were told its sole purpose was to secure funding for those urgent repairs. Ownership and operational control would remain with the town. Yet now, the conservancy owns the dam and continues to collect a special benefits tax—more than $300,000 annually, year after year—with no equivalent capital project currently on the table. The dam itself is still operated by the town, even though ownership now rests with a separate taxing entity.

So why does the tax continue? And what exactly is the district’s purpose now?

The Turkey Creek Dam and Dike Conservancy District was supposed to be a solution to the town’s longstanding failure to budget for the dam it had owned since 1923. Instead, it’s become a permanent taxing body with unclear future responsibilities and no sunset clause. Taxpayers are being asked to keep funding a district whose original task is complete and whose ownership authority was transferred only after the fact.

It’s time for residents to demand a public audit of the district’s current and future purpose. At a minimum, the tax rate should be lowered to reflect actual ongoing maintenance needs — or better yet, the district should be dissolved.

We’ve paid for the fix. We shouldn’t be paying forever.

Sincerely,
David Abrell
Syracuse
President, Master of Public Affairs
Student Association, 2024–2025
Master of Public Affairs,
Indiana University South Bend (May 2025)