While there’s been a lot of talk regarding a potential tax to protect Chautauqua Lake, some residents want to know more about the specifics on who will handle the money and how it will be spent.

During a recent Chautauqua Lake Protection and Rehabilitation Agency public presentation, County Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon, R-Bemus Point, who is also chairman of the CLPRA, discussed some of the specifics for the funding.

Chagnon noted that if a lake district is formed, it would have an administrative board to oversee the funds. The county has a similar operation with its sewer and water districts. People who live in those sewer or water districts are billed. The money collected is placed in a designated account and can only be spent on that specific district.

Chagnon said the county Legislature would make the decision on forming the lake district but lawmakers could have a required referendum, which would allow the public to have the final say on the formation.

Right now, the project is proposing $10 million collected annually. Jayme Breschard, a senior managing community planner with Barton & Loguidice, said that amount is not set in stone.

“We chose $10 million as a place to start and to have feedback from the public to understand what we need to go for,” she said.

One of the items they have discussed is that if they’re going to collect money, they want enough so that it can make a difference and spend it on things like lake dredging.

BOAT FEES

While the CLPRA is looking at collecting taxes from properties in the Chautauqua Lake watershed, there has been some talk of charging boat fees to help raise money for the lake protection.

Chagnon said the state would have to give its approval for the county to implement any boat fees. Theoretically, the money raised from boat fees could be used to supplement the budget for the lake protection, but it’s difficult to estimate what that amount could be.

Breschard said the challenge has been trying to figure out how much money that could raise, if the state permits boat fees. “We have asked for some of the data but it’s not consistent. There’s only one spot that actually takes in the amount of boats on the lake that we are aware of at this time,” she said.

That doesn’t mean they can’t pursue boat fees, Breschard added.

“For us to move forward in that direction would require more digging, so again, we need that feedback from the CLPRA of what methods to pursue and then we can move ahead and get that additional information,” she said.

Jack Williams with Barton & Loguidice also said if boat fees are desired, the CLPRA would need to decide if those fees are for everyone or if people who live on the lake or have lake access are exempt.