The Leelanau County Road Commission approved its 2024 budget Tuesday and it didn’t include funds to reconstruct a Leland Township road.
Nearly 20 Leland Township residents attended this meeting and criticize the road commission for not setting aside funds to reconstruct Oxford Drive.
Road Commission staff explained they have limited funds at their disposal and must focus them on the county’s primary and through roads, and that the Oxford Drive reconstruction can’t “happen overnight.”
Elizabeth Hill, a homeowner on Oxford Drive, said it was “like a slap in the face” when she reviewed the road commission’s draft budget shared on Nov. 21 and she noticed that road improvements outside her home were not slated for 2024.
“At the beginning of the year, you gave us a lot of hope. Our neighborhood banded together to accomplish the result of road getting replaced. We had faith in you guys, the township, and our board, and in our neighborhoods that worked and banded together,” another resident, April Schwaegerle, said.
Back in September, the Leland Township Board voted to establish a special assessment district (SAD), following a petition by the Waterford Hills Property Owners offering to pay 25% of the expenses for reconstructing Oxford Drive. The agreement stated that the township would cover another 25% of expenses provided that the road commission covers the remaining 50%.
Hill, Schwaegerle, and some of the other Leland Township residents said they fully expected the road commission to come up with their match and schedule the project for 2024. However, Mullane explained that the commission has limited funds for local road projects.
Overall, about $4 million in funds are set aside for local roads in the 2024 budget. Oxford Drive is a local road in poor condition, as determined by Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER). According to road commission documents provided to the newspaper, over 75 miles of local roads in Leelanau County are also in poor condition, and fixing all of them would cost $30 million — over seven times the amount budgeted for this item.
“We focus our money, as much as we possibly can, on primary and through roads. We would like to fix all the local roads, but we don’t control the amount (in the budget). It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s dead in the water, it just means there’s not room in a county match,” Mullane said.
Road commission member Robert Joyce said that the commission may have the time and funds for the Oxford Drive project in the future. He noted the Traverse Lake Road local road project in Cleveland Township, included in the 2024 budget, required four years of preparation.
Garth Greenan, chairman of the road commission, added that the county’s PASER ratings as a whole reflect that the commission is “doing the right thing.” As an example, he noted that only 11% of the county’s primary roads have a “poor” PASER rating — one of the lowest in the state.
The budget, which can be found on leelanaucountyroads. org/meeting-agendas-minutes, forecasts a total revenue of $9,041,228 and total expenditures of $9,464,559 for the year ending on Dec. 31, 2024. The largest source of revenue for the road commission will be Michigan Transportation Funds, at over $3.7 million, followed by $1,713,728 in millages calculated using rates approved by the county board back in September.
The draft reports that the road commission will operate at a net loss of $423,331, but road commission finance director Susan Boyd noted that most of their budgets predict losses based on Michigan Department of Transportation projections. She said that this “rarely” holds after adjustments throughout the year.
The capital budget for 2024 is drafted at $1,372,000, up from $989,700 in 2023, to accommodate the purchases of four plow trucks, regular and extended cab pickup, and paving in Suttons Bay, with the last item still waiting for authorization from the board.
In staff reports to the road commission on Tuesday, Mullane noted that staff have not yet granted the Manistee-Benzie Snowbird’s request to use a right-of-way on Newman Road in Kasson Township as part of their goal of re-establishing a snowmobile trail through the county. He reported that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources said that signage on the trail is currently inadequate, among other problems.
This request garnered controversy, with snowmobile club members and Newman Road residents alike showing up to the road commission’s Nov. 7 meeting. Some residents opposed the club getting the permit because of concerns about snowmobilers damaging private property off the trail or colliding with pedestrians.
Snowbird president Mark Coe advocated permitting the right of way during public comment to promote winter commerce in the area and said that the club will work proactively to address these safety concerns before accidents occur.
The road commission also scheduled an organization meeting for Jan. 2, 2024 at the garage on 10550 E. Eckerle Road in Suttons Bay.
