CRYSTAL LAKE TOWNSHIP IN BENZIE COUNTY MICHIGAN

TAXES DUE: Get those 2025 Winter Property Taxes paid by Tuesday February 17, 2026 to avoid late fees and interest. THANK YOU!!! And for your entertainment, some favorite tax quotes:

“Taxation is the price which civilized communities pay for the opportunity of remaining civilized.”- Albert Bushnell Hart
“It’s income tax time again, Americans: Time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta.”

-Dave Barry

“Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.”

-Ben Franklin

“Death and taxes may be inevitable, but they shouldn’t be related.” -J.C. Watts
“America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation.” -Laurence J. Peter

BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING: 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 18, 2026 at the township hall. The public is welcomed and encouraged to attend. The first draft of the proposed FY 2026-27 Crystal Lake Township budget was presented at the January 21 monthly board meeting. Many corrections were suggested by board members and will be incorporated into a second draft for public comment. Click here for the Budget & Finances page and find links for the revised #2 draft budget. Also, hard copies of the currently proposed FY 26-27 Budgets are on display, and prints available upon request, at the township hall.

BLIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING: 3 p.m. every Thursday (until further notice, when meetings may go down to twice a month) at the township hall. This is a purely advisory committee and its directive is to recommend to the Crystal Lake Township Board any actions it deems advisable in the clean up of contaminated, unsafe and unslightly conditions due to junk on CLT properties. The public is welcome to attend.

TOWNSHIP SEEKS GROUNDSKEEPER: We are requesting bids for the mowing and maintenance of the cemeteries North (1511 Pilgrim Hwy) and East (1658 Frankfort Hwy), as well as the township hall grounds (1651 Frankfort Hwy). All interested contractors shall expect a three year commitment, 2026-2027-2028. Bidders may apply for all three jobs or just North Cemetery, or just East Cemetery/Hall Grounds. The jobs involve substantial initial seasonal cleanup in April/May and 10 mows/light maintenance approximately every 2 weeks throughout May-October. Click on the following links or request from township: 1) an application form; 2) a copy of Relationships, Rights & Obligations document; and 3) a draft copy of proposed Contract. Applicants are encouraged to ask questions and seek any additional information from Cemetery Administrator, Amy Ferris, at [email protected] or 231-352-9791. Bids (application form and quotes) are due by Noon, Wednesday, March 4, 2026 and can be emailed, mailed or dropped off at township hall.

2026 BOR CALENDAR: Annual property assessment notices go out via USPS at the beginning of every February. It is your right as a Crystal Lake Township property owner/tax payer to protest the assessment, after conferring with the Tax Assessor, Jill Brown ([email protected] or 231-881-4000) for possible resolution of concerns, by bringing a formal protest to the Board of Review. There is a short time between when you receive the official assessment notice and the time allotted for hearing protests. Keep in mind the following schedule.

Tues March 3, 1 p.m. - Organizational Mtg (no protests heard)
Mon March 9, 3-9 p.m. - Hear Property Assessment Protests
Wed March 11. 9-3 p.m. - Hear Property Assessment Protests

FILL OUT A "GARBAGE & RECYCLING" SURVEY: Benzie, Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties are updating their Materials Management Plans (MMPs, formerly Solid Waste Plans) by July 2027 to prioritize sustainable practices like recycling and composting, as required by updated state law. The plans will ensure proper management of all non-hazardous materials, establish guidelines for locations, document existing and future infrastructure needs, and define our communities’ goals for a more sustainable approach to materials management. This survey was developed to better understand local and regional governments’ practices and perspectives, and to receive your input on your materials management needs. Use the links below to access the survey which pertains to you. It should only take 8 to 10 minutes to complete: IF YOU ARE A RESIDENT IF YOU ARE BUSINESS/INSTITUTION IF YOU ARE A GOVERNMENT

NURDLES: Tiny plastic pellets that are the basic building blocks of nearly all plastic products, are being dumped into our waterways at alarming rates. This includes Lake Michigan, Crystal Lake and the Betsie River. Nurdles are polluting our wildlife as well as our human bodies endangering us all in ways both documented, and still being investigated. Few governments have begun to address the problem. Read more about them and many other invasives encroaching on our most precious commodity, our water, on our ENVIRONMENT page.

ELECTION RESULTS: We had a single issue on the CLT ballot this last election, regarding the financing of a new Road Commission facility. Use this link to connect to Benzie County election results from November 4, 2025.

ELECTION KUDOS: We received a letter from the Michigan Fair Elections Institute which stated we were among a select group of clerks' offices to receive their Sunlight Award as a Vigilant Steward. Our township was recently recognized as one among 197 jurisdictions to show no duplicate voter registrations. This goes to show how hardworking, integral and efficient our clerk, Judy VanMeter and her deputy, Sondra Halliday, are in keeping records straight and up-to-date. Your election officials are exemplary.

TWP TREES COMING DOWN: We have had a multitude of queries and complaints about the trees currently being bulldozed on properties in close proximity to the township hall. All tree removal is being done under the direction of either the Frankfort City/County Airport Authority, or the Frankfort Pines (assisted living facility.) All inquiries and comments should be directed to them.

SHORT TERM RENTALS PACKETS: Crystal Lake Township's Short Term Rental policy is now in full effect. As of September 15, 2025 at 9:30 a.m., applications for a permit, and updated as of 9.23.25, are downloadable if you click here. For a copied of the Short Term Rental Ordinance [as amended on 9.17.25] click here. To take you to the Short Term Rentals webpage, click here.

ATTENTION CRYSTAL LAKE TOWNSHIP VOTERS: Please check with our clerk or deputy clerk to verify your mailing address. This is especially important if you are on our permanent absentee ballot mailing list. This will help with any confusion with those who have multiple addresses (i.e. alternate winter addresses.) We would also like to update your email and phone numbers, as many are missing from our files. Contact information is [email protected] or [email protected].

ROAD IMPROVEMENTS: Last fall we finished up capping/sealing all our township roads. These are your road millage dollars at work. Here's some background: In November of 2024, the majority of our constituents voted to renew the Crystal Lake Township 5-year (up until 2029) road millage of up to 1.0 millage to maintain/improve the asphalt roads within our boundaries. [Note that this is a different millage from the county-wide road millage.] With the accumulated monies in our dedicated CLT Road Fund, the Benzie County Road Commission applied "chip-n-seal" to the following: Adams, Airport, Bacon, Bellows, Bridge, Carlson, Casey, Cox, Didrickson, Elm, Figg, Forrester, Glory, Graves, Marquette, Martin, Michigan, Mollineaux, Nelson, Nugent, Palcich, Pautz, Robinson, Runway, Shorewood, Sunset, and Thomas. The exact cost billed to us was $772,891.41 and was 99% paid for with taxes already collected. After all the work was completed, the Road Fund was depleted. In order to build it back up for the next round of maintenance --hopefully not scheduled until many years down the road, no pun intended --the CLT Board has decided to continue in 2026 to collect the 1 mill or .9831, with the Headlee Rollback factor applied. Special thanks to our dedicated Road Committee members: Bruce Walton, Al Popp and Judy VanMeter for offering their advice and monitoring the roads, and for the good people at our county road commission for executing the labor.

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) an Assistant CLT Zoning Administrator, to shadow our current ZA and learn this all-important township job. This is possibly a commitment that could lead to the applicant being hired full time when our ZA retires. We hope for an applicant who already has experience as a ZA. But if not, we appreciate that an applicant will need time to learn the job, thus be provided time and salary as an "apprentice"; 3) several 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, maybe that's because it has taken us by surprise but it is not because we are trying to keep secrets. Democracy needs not only our board and staff members but also our constituents to be interested, involved and informed. It is true, but 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 do that? We send out newsletters twice a year. We update this website several times a week. Draft and, later, approved minutes are always on our website to read or download. If you stop by, we're ready to answer your questions in person. We also video record view CLT Board meetings which you can then view via our YouTube channel. Every once in a while we screw up the mechanisms of videoing, but we only do that rarely and as a result, you have access for your viewing pleasure to official board business as it was being decided. If you have any other suggestions on how to share township information with you, we are all ears.

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.