The Suttons Bay Township board discussed options for funding local road work at their November meeting.
They were particularly concerned about the state of Lovers Lane on the Stony Point peninsula, east of Suttons Bay proper. Several township residents have also commented on the poor condition of this road.
However, the costs of repairing this road may be prohibitively high. According to township Trustee Dorothy Petoskey, it may cost the township as much as $150,000 to fix.
The township has funded some local road improvements through cost share agreements with the county road commission. Last year, they entered into one of these agreements to pay for the paving of Marek Road off M-204. Township Supervisor Doug Periard said that he recently met with Road Commission Manager Brendan Mullane to discuss changes to this policy.
They could also follow Cleveland Township’s example and adopt its own road repair and maintenance millage. A county-wide road millage has been in place since 1986 and was recently renewed by voters in August. But this tax is just for the county’s primary roads – ones with the “CR” prefix – and individual townships often need to finance work on their own local roads.
So, Cleveland Township voters approved a separate tax levy for “designated township roadways.” Lately, this township millage has been used to pay Cleveland’s share of the costs for the work on Traverse Lake Road as part of an agreement with the road commission.
“If we do Lovers Lane, we’re not doing another road for another three years, or another four years, unless we have a millage,” Petoskey said.
The Suttons Bay Township board agreed that they should seek approval from residents before they start collecting tax money to fund maintenance on local roads. They considered presenting this as a proposal to voters in the May 2025 elections. This is partly because the tax for local roads can be quite costly to taxpayers: Cleveland’s half mill levy is expected to raise $79,000 in its first year.
“Why don’t we ask the voters? At the next election time (in May), put it on the ballot,” Trustee Debbie Slocombe said. “Let the people decide if the roads are that bad, and if they want to pay half a mill.”
The board did not take any action on local roads at their Nov. 13 meeting, but they:
• Adopted asset guidelines used in determination of poverty exemptions for 2024. Trustee Eric Carlson said these were first adopted a year ago but needed to be re-adopted by the board this month.
• Scheduled a joint meeting with the parks and recreation committee at the township board’s Feb. 12 meeting at 6 p.m. The township board said they wanted the committee’s input on the township’s 2025 budget.
