The five townships in Leelanau County where portions of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore are located should be getting more "Payment in Lieu of Taxes" (PILT) money than they currently are, according to Glen Arbor Township supervisor John Soderholm.

Soderholm and representatives from Empire Township appeared at the executive committee meeting of the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners last week to assert that the county retains more of the PILT money than it deserves from the National Park Service, which is not required to pay property taxes on the 39,889 acres it owns within Leelanau County.

About 35 percent of the land is located in Glen Arbor Township, where the combined Glen Arbor and Empire fire and rescue departments provide almost all of the fire protection and ambulance service within the National Lakeshore. However, only a small percentage of PILT money goes to the townships most affected by the existence of the National Park, Soderholm said. Instead, almost all of the money goes into Leelanau County coffers.

“Glen Arbor Township records indicate that $5,804 has been received and deposited in the (township’s) General Fund since May 1998,” Soderholm told the county board in a prepared statement. “Additionally, the (township’s) Emergency Services Fund has been credited with a total of $1,374 (in PILT money) since January 2005, for a total of $7,179 or approximately 1.44 percent of the total payments received by the county since 1999.”

Soderholm said Leelanau County had received more than $500,000 in PILT money from the National Park Service since 1999 – but the county provides nowhere near the level of services to the park that Glen Arbor Township does.

“Glen Arbor Township’s Fire Department has been involved in responding to numerous calls within the boundaries of the National Park property for many years,” Soderholm said. “Included in the past few months have been two fires, multiple search and rescue, and ambulance calls within the park property.

“Historically,” Soderholm continued, “the Glen Arbor Fire Department has not only incurred expenses associated with emergency responses, but also has incurred annual expenses related to training and ‘standby’ that have been borne by the taxpayers of Glen Arbor Township.”

Park Service property is also located in Empire, Cleveland, Centerville and Kasson townships.

“Each of the townships recognizes the costs that Leelanau County incurs for various services it provides to the townships and compensates you accordingly,” Soderholm told county commissioners. “It seems fair and logical that this would be a two-way street.”

Soderholm suggested that the townships, primarily Glen Arbor, should receive about 90 percent of the PILT money paid by the National Park Service – while the county should receive about 10-percent.

County commissioners balked at that notion with some suggesting, however, that a new arrangement for distributing PILT money could be considered.

“The county has many other costs associated with the National Park,” said District No. 2 commissioner Mark Walter, “and this is not a decision we can make today. But I agree we should look into it.”

County board chairman Robert Hawley, who represents Glen Arbor as the District No. 6 commissioner, said he agreed that “a majority of costs” that are covered by PILT are borne by townships, not the county.

Following further discussion, the county board agreed by consensus to direct county administrator David Gill to work with Soderholm and other township officials to draft a new formula for distributing PILT payments from the National Park Service to the affected townships.