Dear editor:
At the special public meeting of the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners on September 2, 2025, citizens had a chance to chime in on the proposed Special Assessment District to manage the water level of Higgins Lake. Two members of the board described the process in general and concluded by stating that a decision to go forward is still up in the air as they continue to evaluate the facts. Make no mistake, however, they seem committed to recovering what they regard as their expenses on this project to date.
The website for this project is located at: www.roscommonlakelevels.net and includes a map showing the properties to be assessed.
Future costs include engineering, administration, project management, dam maintenance, and construction. The three separate county water control projects include Higgins Lake, Houghton Lake, and Lake St. Helen. We need to be reminded that Roscommon County is one of the least affluent counties in all of Michigan. The county seems to have been cornered into maintaining the status quo or opting for some form of imperfect solution. We can expect lawsuits no matter which way this goes.
Lake water level ‘management’ debates have been in play in Roscommon County for many decades. The first actions to alter the Higgins Lake water levels were during the 1800s logging boom. This was followed by “resorters” who built cottages and used Higgins Lake for recreation, including steam powered tour boats. Resorters subsequently drained and filled wetlands around all three lakes to create and embellish their real estate. Dams came and went, but not everyone was happy. The lakes lost their pristinity long ago.
In recent years, as complaints piled up about high and low water levels, this has become a grappling contest between the county and lake special interests. State legislation gives the county the rights to have the last word on this, but will the last word fix the problems? It is particularly important that all available facts be understood to make sound water level management decisions.
Hot potatoes
It is understandable why this is a hot potato. People have natural aversions to new taxes in general. For lakefront owners on Higgins, the proposed annual fee for these efforts amounts to $143 – for starters, and that will change annually to cover ongoing costs. This meeting seemed to be a struggle between county officials trying to arrive at practical solutions and well-resourced lake fronters who want to control most matters involving Higgins Lake.
You can’t blame the county board for wanting to put this problem to rest by creating a separate authority to run this circus. They are litigation-weary and want this monkey off their back. Any ‘dam management authority’ had better budget generously for legal expenses to handle lawsuits that are probably inevitable.
The dam problem has plagued local politics for decades, consuming time and resources and appears to have no finale in sight. Meanwhile, the current dam structure remains questionable, structurally, and functionally, and requires future improvements. With what precision can the lake level be regulated on Higgins Lake even with a new, current technology monitoring and control structure? That’s an open question. The county is looking for ways to cover these expenses while county coffers are already overstretched, to the point of relying on donations to support law enforcement efforts on Higgins Lake.
Phil Robinson
Higgins Lake
