CRYSTAL LAKE TOWNSHIP IN BENZIE COUNTY MICHIGAN

2026 TAX BILLS: The September 14th due date has passed. Have you paid your summer taxes? As of September 30, 2026, 142 parcels still have unpaid taxes, interest, or both. Delinquent notices were mailed last week and emailed when an email address was available. If your payment arrives late, you will receive an updated bill by USPS and/or email.

LET’S HELP HELP HELP HELP EACH OTHER: Your Treasurer is on a mission. Property tax notices must be mailed through USPS, but you can also receive a copy by email. Please help us update our property tax records by emailing your email address—and, if you wish, your phone number—to [email protected] Your parcel number is helpful, but your property address is enough to locate your record. Because mailing addresses may change or vary, email often provides a more reliable way to reach you.

NOTABLE ELECTION DATES:

 Sept 19 - Absentee Military and overseas voter empowerment deadline (*eac.gov)
Sept 24 - Absentee voter ballots available
Oct 19 - Last day to register online or by mail
Oct 24 to Nov 1 - Early in-person voting at the township hall
 Nov 3 (7 a.m.to 8 p.m.) - Election Day/Last day to return absentee ballot/last day to register to vote

CLT & IRONMAN'S CONTINUING CONNECTION: The immediate update on this topic is that the City of Frankfort is apparently now planning for three more years hosting the IRONMAN event, 2027 - 2028 - 2029. City officials held an open forum on September 1st to hear opinions on this --perhaps still pending-- decision. We here at CLT would still like to hear your feedback, not on whether Ironman is a good or bad thing, not on whether Frankfort should sign on for another three years, but whether Crystal Lake Township should let a private company close our township roads for their own profitable event, which is the only thing this township government entity has control over in this debate. If you have an opinion or concerns to express to the CLT leadership, as to whether CLT should allow road closures within its boundaries post-2026, yea or nay, your feedback is hereby solicited. We are very interested in knowing our constituents feelings on this event. Please email or call the clerk (ext 3 or [email protected]) or the supervisor (ext. 1 or [email protected]).

ELBERTA DEVELOPMENT FEEDBACK: The Village of Elberta is soliciting responses to their proposed development of the Elberta waterfront. Click here for link to website with more information. Be sure to fill out the concerned citizen survey! All parties involved, from local government to the Grand Traverse Regional Conservancy, encourage your participation and welcome the wider community to be informed and involved.

COUNTY/TOWNSHIP MILLAGE RESET: This summer there was a significant referendum on county and township financing. The issue was on the August ballot, whether or not to reset the operating millage to previously approved limits, failed by less than 20 votes. The November ballot will have a modified proposal presented in an attempt to secure what the county government believes is necessary for fiscal health and deliverable services going forward. To comprehend this issue, one must know about the bigger picture, how revenues are decided and why they have been continuously whittled down through the years by the Headlee Amendment. To be more knowledgeable on this significant issue, click here for a citizen/voter's booklet that was put out by Benzie County before the August vote.

HELP WANTED: Crystal Lake Township Deputy Treasurer Position Available! Click here for job description. Apply immediately. Pay Rate: $21.07 per hour Hours: During tax seasons, 20 to 30 per week. During training period, up to 20 hours per week and negotiable. Office hours during tax seasons, may be up to 10 hours per week. Looking for a detail oriented, resourceful person that is NOT afraid of numbers, research, and talking to and assisting residents and property owners. Please submit cover letter, resume, and two to three references to Jill Marble, Crystal Lake Township Treasurer, PO Box 2129, Frankfort, MI 49635, or drop off at Crystal Lake Township Hall, 1651 Frankfort Hwy, Frankfort, MI 49635.

OTHER EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES: Click here for our Employment page as we are looking for a few good people: 1) a Deputy Supervisor to learn all duties assigned by law and many more tasks that are "assumed" 😮. It's a golden opportunity to get earn a little salary, be active and get involved on a quarter-time basis with your local government; 2) Election workers who are interested in getting trained and taking a shift or two in any future elections. It is serious commitment AND fun! The Township is a congenial, people-and-task based place. Want to know more? We're here to answers questions. And ask anyone who works there about the rewarding experiences of serving our beautiful community.

TRANSPARENCY IS OUR MIDDLE NAME: No secrets. Your local government reps at CLT want you to know what we know, what we do, what we are planning. If an issue takes you by surprise, it could be because it has taken us by surprise but not because we are trying to keep secrets. More likely, it is because communication was less-than-optimal if not absent all together. A successful democracy needs not only our board and staff members but also our constituents to be interested, involved and informed. It is ironic that in this day and age of so many different types of non-stop-in-your-face media we are still having trouble communicating with one another. We are on the record as very much wanting to communicate with our residents. How do we currently attempt that? First, we remind folks the best way to find out what is happening in your local government, for which there is no substitute, is to go to the meetings in person. Second, we also video record CLT Board meetings which you can then view post-meeting on our YouTube channel. We also update this website several times a week. Approved minutes are always on our website to read or download. If you stop by, we're ready to answer your questions in person. Lastly, we send out newsletters, enclosed with your tax bills, twice a year. If you have any other suggestions on how to share township information, we are all ears. How do we compare our transparency to others in the area? There are 88 "local" government units if you include all cities, various townships, villages, and county governments in Antrim, Kalkaska, Benzie, Grand Traverse, and Leelanau Counties. All local government bodies are required to post the date, time, and location of their meetings at the location the meeting is held; many just thumbtack this info to a bulletin board, all but one township has that information available online. All but three have a dedicated website, and 70 post their minutes online in a timely manner. At least eight local government units go as far as recording and posting their meetings online. Fewer than half post their agendas online. [For the record, a quick recap of what we do: Crystal Lake Township has a consistently updated website, posts the meeting schedules, agendas, documents, and minutes along with lots of other community- and township-relative information including all contact emails and numbers, provides videos of the board meetings, mails out a newsletter bi-annually and has regularly kept office hours for in-person service.]

THOUGHTS ABOUT YOUR TOWNSHIP BOARD: Political geography in America today is largely defined by a variegated patchwork of rural red and urban blue localities. Given this, one might expect most local governments to be dominated by one political ideology or the other. And yet, a recent survey --taken by Civic Pulse and supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY)-- of elected officials from counties, municipalities, townships, and school boards reveals this is far from the case. They found the majority (58%) have some degree of ideological pluralism represented on their board. Crystal Lake Township is reflective of that majority. Not only do we have a mix of party affiliations, we have a mix of world views, outlooks and opinions within those party labels. The important thing is whether we are representing the township constituency and doing our work to serve you in a respectful, legal and ethical way.