Inside 208

With the expiration of 14-days on the Governor’s desk this past week, the last bills presented from December’s lame duck legislative action brought the 100th Legislative Session to an official close. All told, nearly 300 new bills were introduced between the House and the Senate during the lame duck period,...

One of the first pieces of legislation submitted this term is a re-introduction of the dark stores big box property valuation fix that the Municipal League has been advocating for in recent years.  Seeking to address the unfair situation resulting from a precedent-setting Michigan Tax Tribunal decision, the legislation introduced...

State Treasurer Nick Khouri and the legislative sponsors for SB 1025 and HB 6049 are planning a series of “listening tour” forums this month to hear from local officials about ways to improve administration of property tax laws in Michigan. Following introduction and an initial committee hearing on the reform...

Treasury shared the following information earlier today on training opportunities they have scheduled in communities throughout the state.  Interested local officials are encouraged to participate. The Michigan Department of Treasury is pleased to announce the development and implementation of a one day course titled Understanding the Basics of Assessing for Local...

There is a fantastic new documentary film that does an outstanding job explaining the complex, yet devastating “Dark Stores” tax loophole issue facing Michigan communities. This is a hot topic the Michigan Municipal League has been fighting for more than a year and at a compact 24-minutes it is great...

The House Tax Policy committee today reported House Bill 5578 with a bi-partisan 11-2 vote.  Following multiple committee hearings spanning the past six months, today’s positive committee vote had been anticipated, based upon the amount of work done by the sponsor and local government advocates. As the committee vice-chair, Rep. Dave...

State Representative Dave Maturen (R-Vicksburg) introduced House Bill 5578 this week (http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2016-HB-5578) with the support of the Michigan Municipal League and other local government groups, to address the ongoing crisis of “dark store” property tax appeals. The legislation proposed by Rep. Maturen, was developed following a workgroup process which he...

(UPDATE: View the League’s new Dark Stores resource web page and view additional Dark Stores-related photos here). The Michigan Municipal League and some of our members were given the opportunity to offer testify on the Dark Stores tax loophole issue Wednesday before the House Tax Policy Committee. If you’re not aware,...