Lake Policing In Danger

It appears likely that regular lake patrols by the Oakland County Sheriff's marine division will cease in the 2010 season due to budget cuts. The question facing some lakefront residents in Orchard Lake, if this happens, will be whether they are willing to pay for this service.

Let's take one lake as an example: Orchard Lake. It's the simplest to deal with because it lies entirely within the city limits, has an existing sheriff's patrol on busy days, and has an existing special assessment for lake purposes.

The assessment has existed for a number of years and is collected only from riparian owners on the lake, not from other citizens. Owners of property directly on the lake pay $140 a year. "Backlot" owners pay $96. This raises a bit more than $30,000 a year, most of which goes to pay for annual weed harvesting. However a small amount pays half the cost of stationing a part-time police officer at the state launch site -- the city pays the rest. This was done to prevent problems on both land and water during the heaviest use times.

The sheriff has not provided a figure yet for the cost of maintaining the lake patrol. But as a riparian owner on Orchard Lake myself, I would be willing to shoulder my share of the cost because I believe law enforcement on the lake is essential. This could be done by expanding the current assessment. My recommendation would be that we drop the police presence at the launch site as a savings, and because enforcement on the water is more important.

How to answer this question on the other lakes is more complicated. Only a fraction of the Cass Lake shoreline is in our city and getting agreement among owners would be more difficult. Upper Straits Lake could be easier because it is split between the municipalities of Orchard Lake and West Bloomfield, and has a strong lakefront property-owner association already.

It's time to discuss and deal with this now so that we're prepared for 2010.