Tuesday, July 6, 2010

County Passing the Buck on Lake Patrols

The Livingston County Commissioners brag a lot about having a low tax rate, but they don't tell you how they get that -- by passing the buck to the townships for services the county used to provide but doesn't any more.

Take lake patrols for example. The Livingston County sheriff's department used to patrol the county's many lakes, but this year it decided it couldn't do that anymore.

As WHMI reported recently (July 3, 2010), Hamburg Township has had to take over patrolling lakes because the Livingston County Sheriff's Department said it didn't have the money for it. Voters in the township approved a millage for expanded police protection awhile back, but now instead of expanding service, some of that money has to go to picking up the work that used to be done by the county.

Until the county commission passed the buck, so the Republican incumbents could brag about their low tax rate.

And it's not like lake patrols don't matter. People die on Michigan lakes every summer.

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