Buy on Lake Fenton and You Inherit a Weed Assessment Through 2028.

By Carrie Thompson, Strategic Marketing Real Estate Agent, eXp Realty | Grand Blanc & Genesee County, MI

If you buy a house on Lake Fenton, you are buying into a special assessment district. It runs through 2028, it is billed in annual installments, and it pays for the eradication and control of aquatic weeds.

It is worth understanding before an offer gets written, so here is the whole thing, straight out of Fenton Township's own board minutes.

What you actually pay

Fenton Township confirmed the current assessment roll on August 20, 2024. For one share, the amounts per parcel are:

• 2024: $130.86, which includes township administrative costs
• 2025: $33.56
• 2026: $35.80
• 2027: $42.51
• 2028: $44.75

Five annual installments. The first was due on or before December 1, 2024, and the rest are due on or before December 1 of each year through 2028. (Fenton Township Board minutes, August 20, 2024)

The assessment is collected by the township treasurer, not as part of your regular tax bill. You can pay future installments in full at any time. If you miss one, it goes delinquent and collects a penalty of 1 percent for each month or fraction of a month it stays unpaid, and only then does it get reported to the township board for reassessment onto the township tax roll. That is under Michigan Public Act 188 of 1954.

The share system is where it gets interesting

Not every parcel pays the same. After a public hearing on July 16, 2024, research by Township Assessor Julia Wilson, and a recommendation from the Lake Fenton Property Owners Association, the board adopted this structure:

1. Commercial marinas with 1 to 50 boat slips pay 4 shares. With 51 to 100 slips, 8 shares. With more than 100 slips, 12 shares.
2. Other commercial property with docks pays 2 shares.
3. Other commercial property without docks pays 1 share.
4. Case's Island properties pay 1 share for each parcel with lake frontage, which removed the assessment from 7 parcels entirely.
5. Every other parcel in the district pays 1 share.

So a marina with more than 100 slips carries twelve times what a single-family home does, and seven Case's Island parcels came off the roll altogether in that revision.

The board noted that under the revised roll, the total five-year cost for one share came out $4.56 lower than under the original version. That is the level of detail these things get argued at.

Who is in the district

The district covers "all parcels of land with frontage on, or riparian access to, Lake Fenton." (Fenton Township Board minutes, June 18, 2024)

Riparian access matters. You do not have to be on the water to be in the district. If your parcel has legal access to the lake, you are in it.

This is the third district, not the first

The previous Lake Fenton assessment expired after the 2023 property tax roll. The Lake Fenton Property Owners Association then asked the township board to start a new five-year district, and submitted a budget and contract for the program.

The board scheduled the hearing on June 18, 2024, created Lake Fenton Improvement Special Assessment District No. 3 after a public hearing on July 16, 2024, and confirmed the roll on August 20, 2024. (Fenton Township Board synopsis, July 16, 2024)

The number in the name is the point. This is a recurring five-year cycle, not a one-time charge. District No. 3 exists because the previous one expired and the association asked for another. Nothing in the minutes says what happens after 2028, but that is the pattern the record shows.

Lake Fenton is not the only one

At that same August 2024 meeting, the board handled the same business for other lakes in the township. Byram Lake's District No. 3 came in at a per-share assessment of $245.27 in year one and $230.00 per year in years two through five. Loon Lake's came in at $429.17 in year one and $412.50 in years two through five.

The Loon Lake hearing is worth reading if you own on any small lake. David Weber, president of the Friends of Loon Lake, explained that the association solicited multiple proposals and ran tests, and that because Loon Lake is shallow, treating non-native invasive weeds there is harder. Most lakes get two treatments a year. Loon Lake's plan called for three, which is why it costs more.

Another Loon Lake owner, Don Bolen of Minnetonka Drive, put the case for it simply. He said that without weed treatments, the lake would be unusable.

That is the trade. The assessment is not a tax on having a nice view. It is what keeps the water usable.

The township supervisor's own advice to buyers

At that same meeting, during a contentious rezoning discussion, Supervisor Vince Lorraine said something that belongs in every buyer's head in this county.

He suggested that when purchasing property, a buyer must look at the future land use designation of surrounding properties, not just what exists today.

That is a township supervisor telling you that what is next door now is not the question. What is allowed next door is the question.

What to actually do with this

Ask for the special assessment history on the parcel, not just the tax amount. A Lake Fenton parcel carries this through 2028, and the installments step up over the term, from $33.56 in 2025 to $44.75 in 2028 for one share. Small money, but it should not be a surprise in December.

Ask whether the seller has prepaid. Future installments can be paid in full at any time. Whether they have been changes what you inherit.

Ask if the parcel has riparian access rather than frontage. Both are in the district. Buyers sometimes assume off-water parcels are exempt.

Read the minutes. Fenton Township posts board minutes, synopses and agendas at fentontownship.org. Everything in this post came from those documents, not from a news article about them.

If you are looking at a home on Lake Fenton, Lobdell, Loon, Byram, or anywhere in Fenton Township, Fenton, Linden, Grand Blanc, Davison, Flushing, Swartz Creek, Burton, Goodrich or Holly, and you want someone who will actually pull the assessment history before you write an offer, call or text me at (810) 893-3269.

About Carrie Thompson

Carrie Thompson is a licensed Michigan Realtor (#6501338662) with eXp Realty, serving Grand Blanc, Fenton, Davison, Linden, Flushing, Swartz Creek, Burton, Goodrich, Holly, and Genesee County. Known as "Your Favorite Property Girl," she brings a strategic marketing approach to every listing and every buyer search. Call or text (810) 893-3269.