How do other states handle this same issue?

Anybody know?

Here is an "outsiders" point of view (I'm from eastern CT and have never been on Candlewood)

It's definitely a lake tax, which is kind of understandable. Candlewood seems like a big expensive resource to manage (just look at it on a map it's huge for around here), which is a lot of the local towns to pay for.... on the other hand how much money has the lake made the surrounding towns? Would properties values be as high without the lake, I doubt it. All that being said it's probably more expensive to manage that resource today than any other time in history. We pay attention to a lot more variables nowadays, perhaps this thing has reach a tipping point between cost and benefit and this is the center of the issue in my mind.
The towns carried the financial burden of carrying the cost of management because it was worth the benefit for their property values, and lake users got a free ride. It must have reached a point where the towns are not seeing the benefit for their cost anymore and want the lake users to start paying for their benefits. What a tangled web we weave.
Regardless of cost verse benefit, I would be concerned with where the money is going, what the heck is the Candlewood Lake Authority. Do it's members stand for election or are they appointed? If appointed, who do they answer to towns, the state, both. It needs to be clearly defined and democratic it they are going to be collecting a tax.

Well, here's the way I see it...

Go ahead, CLA, charge us $50/year and here's what happens:
Boat traffic lessens because many decide it is not worth it.
Local stores lose money from people who used to buy food, drinks, ice, and gas before hitting the lake that now feel it is not worth ($$) the trip.
Oh, and your monies are a lot less than you projected, because you have less boaters.
The towns end up paying close to the same because the monies collected by the CLA are not near what they thought they would be.
Homeowners, who thought they were gonna get a break, now are paying what they were before the fee.

In the following years, other housing authorities throughout the state follow suit. To boat/fish within this state gets too expensive for the middle class and below (which we all know make up the majority of the boaters.) The fishing industry within CT tanks because what's the point of buying a boat, paying to register it, paying to put gas into it, buying fishing tackle, buying a fishing license, etc. if you have to pay to get on each individual lake?

Brilliant plan you have there CLA! Somebody want to present the DARWIN Award to these idiots?

What's expensive to maintain the lake? The only money going into that lake is on protrolling and trout stocking. Up keep??? Never seen it there before! Trailer your boat in at latins parking lot...you will see the nice job they do to up keep the place! I never seen anything that cost money done to the lake besides the 2 stated above. Public Ramps stink,no trashcans,and it looks like the porto pottys are put there in the beginning of the yr and taking out at the end without every being cleaned once.

There was a study begun in 2001 about Candlewood Lake & Squantz Pond that addressed many important issues about the value of the lake to the local communities.

[url=www.ctlakes.org/Economic_Study.pdf]www.ctlakes.org/Economic_Study.pdf[/url]

I htink everyone reading this topic, should download this file, and read it.

The data is very interesting, and quite eye opening as far as boat users on the lake.

I'll post more info I find in the future here as well.