The Four Lakes Task Force, the group rebuilding the four dams that failed in the 2020 mid-Michigan floods, received $9.8 million in the new state budget. They say funding will go to reduce a future assessment levied on property owners.
Dave Kepler is president of the Task Force. He spoke at a informational meeting on Wednesday.
"It is specifically targeted at lowering the burden to the special assessment district property owners related to this assessment, and that's what we're going to spend it on," Kepler said.
It is not yet clear how much exactly the funding will bring down assessments for propriety owners. The grant will be administered by the State Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
“It will be applied to the restoration project costs, which will offset the total amount to be assessed,” said FLTF Treasurer Kayla Stryker. “To say it another way, it will reduce the amount of the second borrowing, that we anticipate to make in the spring of 2026.”
The project cost is expected to be $217,700,000. The Task Force has received various grants that have brought the project cost down from $398,875,000.
They say the project is on budget and progressing on time. The first assessments will be levied in this winter's tax bill.
Sanford Dam is expected to be completed in December 2025. Smallwood and Secord are expected to be finished in 2026 (June and September respectively), and Edenville is expected to be done in September of 2027.
The Task Force is also awaiting a $1.4 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“We haven’t really received an update,” Stryker said. “There have been quite a few FEMA…and other federal programs that we were in the pipeline for that have been canceled. So, we're a little bit keeping our eyes on that to make sure that 1.4 million comes into fruition.”
Amid the new funding, the Task Force will give refunds to those property owners who pre-paid their assessments. Refunds will go to the property. The rebates will go out in 2027, after the final project cost is computed.
“But if it stays looking like it does now, we will go through a refund process,” Stryker said.
