The Suttons Bay Village Council adopted its 2025 budget at a special meeting Dec. 3.
According to village documents, the budget includes allotments for major and local street projects, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) park improvements, sidewalk repairs, structure maintenance, and security and infrastructure improvements.
Village Manager Rob Larrea said the budget provides revenues in the amount of $3,366,540, based on a property tax millage rate of 8.7647, the same as previous years. Also in this meeting, the village council allowed the maximum millage rate authorized by state law. The tax rate for the next fiscal year will not be set by the county until May 2025, however.
The budget shows expenditures in the amount of $3,947,426. At the council’s November meeting, Larrea said that the village is “in good fiscal standing,” and the increase is associated mostly with the marina and public bathrooms projects.
Per the adopted budget, Sutton Bay Village’s water rates will increase for the first time in 17 years next year, according to the village council’s board packet. The rate structures still need to be finalized and approved, but comparing the 2024 and 2025 fee schedules, the combined monthly fees for a five-eighths inch to 1-inch meter will go up from $18.58 to $22.58.
Marina slip fees are also increasing by 2-5%. This includes the costs of slips for vessels at the main marina going up to 25 feet long going up from $2,200 to $2,350, with $94 per foot in length over 25 feet. For the coal dock, slips for vessels up to 25 feet long went up from $1,950 to $2,100.
The slip fee increases are intended to fund marina improvements, including a new marina bathhouse with public bathrooms, a new dock, and an upland walkway. These additions will cost about $1.7 million, with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) providing a 50% match.
The other half of the money for these improvements will come from the village’s marina and Downtown Development Authority (DDA) funds. The slip fees are increasing to reflect these new amenities and in accordance with the DNR fee schedule.
The village council also adopted their 2025 meeting schedule, with the council itself still meeting regularly at 5:30 p.m. on the third Monday of every month, but the planning commission and zoning board of appeals swapping dates.
And the village council appointed Frank Smith and Jared Pontius to the planning commission for three-year terms ending Dec. 31, 2027; Dan Derigiotis and Erik Bahle to the DDA for three-year terms; Frank Smith as ex-officio planning commission member on the zoning board of appeals (ZBA), Erik Bahle as the ex-officio council member on the ZBA, and Deb Smith as ex-officio council member on the planning commission; and Colleen Christensen as council president pro-tem.
