Finance committee backs forwarding $2.92 million Dean Lake assessment and bond to full board amid resident cost concerns

The Kent County Finance Committee voted to forward to the full Kent County Board of Commissioners a recommendation to approve the Dean Lake Lake Level Special Assessment District assessment roll and authorize issuance of bonds not to exceed $2,915,588.32 to fund lake-level improvements and an outlet system.

Residents who live on Dean Lake urged the committee to pause and provide more analysis after project costs rose from the roughly $1.1 million estimate used in earlier proceedings to the $2.915 million computation of cost the drain commission presented. Brian Walters, president of the Dean Lake Association, told the committee the jump in the estimate means an assessment that residents have calculated could reach nearly $24,000 per household and asked the county for a “deeper dive” before moving forward.

The recommendation before the committee would authorize the county to pledge limited-tax full faith and credit as backup security for a Dean Lake Lake Level Special Assessment District bond series 2025 and to execute related financing documents. The drain commissioner presented the computation of cost and staff and consultants described project scope, permitting and schedule constraints that county staff said create a compressed timeline for awarding construction contracts.

Why it matters: The county is the delegated authority for maintaining court-established lake levels under Part 307 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. The circuit court previously…