The Leland Township Board has joined an effort to convince county officials that townships within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore deserve more federal "Payment In Lieu of Taxes" (PILT) funds.

The board took no formal action at it meeting Monday night, but agreed to send a letter in support of having the county meet with the townships involved in providing services within the Lakeshore. Supervisor Harry Larkin said he had received a letter from Glen Arbor Township supervisor John Soderholm asking Leland Township to support the request that all future PILT aid received by the county be split on a 75-25 basis. Under the proposal, 75 percent would go to the townships and 25 percent would stay with the county.

Soderholm and the Glen Arbor Township Board submitted a request to the county in October seeking a change in how the County Board of Commissioners distributes the $57,500 it annually receives from the federal government. In past years the county has given Glen Arbor, Empire, Cleveland, Centerville and Leland $2,000 each from the federal funds, and kept the rest for itself. The payments were designed to help fund the cost of services such as fire and rescue and road improvements within the Lakeshore. The federal money is given to offset property value lost as a result of the creation of the Lakeshore.

In November, the County Board approved dividing the funds on a 60-40 basis, with townships receiving the higher amount. Board chairman Robert Hawley had asked for a split of 75 percent for the townships, and 25 percent for the county.

Larkin said a proposed meeting between county and township officials could also determine how the township funds would be given to each township. None of the mainland area of the Lakeshore falls within Leland Township boundaries. However, North Manitou Island is part of the Lakeshore and is also part of Leland Township.

Larkin said while there aren’t many fire and rescue calls to North Manitou, the township’s ambulance service does transport any person hurt on the island in need of hospital service. “We meet the Park Service people at the dock when they bring the patient in from the island,” he said.

Trustee Nicholas Lederle said he supports the 75-25 split, while trustee Steve Plamondon and treasurer Mike Kirt said they supported sending a letter asking for a meeting between the county and the townships.

In other business during its two-hour meeting, the board:

• Unanimously approved a bid from G. R. Gotschall and Associate of Traverse City, at a cost not to exceed $1,600, to conduct an appraisal of the township-owned property that fronts on the Leland River. Last month the board agreed with developers Gene Kelly and James Varley to have the township property appraised in order to set a possible purchase price.

Kelly and Varley have an option to purchase the county courthouse property in Leland and have created conceptual plans for developing the land into a residential area with up to 24 lots. The developers would like to include the township-owned property in the project, but have not yet submitted any offers. Northern Michigan Real Estate submitted the only other bid, at $1,975.

• Unanimously amended the definition of “family member” in the township’s cemetery ordinance. The old language defined a family member as parents, spouses and children of the purchaser of the burial permit. The new definition reads parents, spouses, children, siblings, nieces, nephews and grandchildren. Clerk Jane Keen said the township was having problems with family members wanting to be buried in lots purchased by grandparents, but not being able to because of the strict definition of family.

• Unanimously approved increasing the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) budget and the elections budget by $1,500 each, and decrease the general fund contingency fund by $3,000, to cover the increases. Keen said the ZBA budget had been exceeded by $1,000, and she wanted to ensure there was more than enough to cover the shortfall. The elections budget was adjusted to accommodate the Jan. 15 state primary vote.