[Michlib-l] Michigan Tax Tribunal Decisions

[Bruce MacDonald]

Has your library issued refund checks due to a “dark store” ruling from the
Michigan Tax Tribunal? PWPL must refund about $9,350 due to a Tribunal
ruling on the Lowes store in Marquette Township, one of our contracted
townships. The store opened in 2008, and continues to operate today. The
assessment was reduced by 63%, going back three years.



The library could be on the hook for tens of thousands in further refunds,
along with decreased revenues going forward at the new assessed values, as
more stores win appeals. Every millage-funded entity also has to issue
refunds. Of course, it’s worse for the Township, because they are hit
directly. The recent *Detroit Free Press* article “Big Box Stores Ringing
up Property Tax Discounts” from April 11, 2015 gave a good summary of the
situation.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/11/big-box-stores-reduced-property-assessments/25649545/

<http://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/11/big-box-stores-reduced-property-assessments/25649545/>



The Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear the case involving the local
Lowes, and Home Depot in Breitung Township. Township officials were told
it’s not a state-wide issue, though it certainly is one. The precedent for
this interpretation of tax law actually started with a case in Novi,
Michigan in 2010, involving the assessment of a Target store. You can
search the Michigan Tax Tribunal docket at the link below for open cases in
your area.

http://taxdocketlookup.lara.state.mi.us/Search.aspx

Settled cases will not appear in the results, nor will the massive backlog
of cases that aren’t on the docket yet. Also, from my understanding, rather
than spend tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, many municipalities
are now settling with property owners without going to the Tribunal.


These cases not only affect various types of local funding. The State,
which is already facing a budget crisis, has to make up education dollars
lost in these reassessments. This is a decrease in revenues, based on an
interpretation of the Michigan Constitution, made by a small group of
unelected people. They base their property reassessments on closed stores,
hundreds of miles away, which could have deed restrictions on them that
make them unusable to many potential buyers, and thus are not comparable
facilities.



The PWPL hosted an informational session about the dark store issue on
April 9th 2015. The capacity crowd of around 150 included all the local
media. One of the topics was legislation to close the dark store loophole.
Legislation was introduced last year that would have closed the loophole,
but it died in the House. It has been re-worked, constitutionally vetted,
and should be reintroduced within the next month by our legislators;
Representative John Kivela (D), and Senator Tom Casperson (R).



I’m only scratching the surface of this issue. More info…

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/about/search.aspx?q=michigan+tax+tribunal

http://www.briancabell.com/dark-stores-lansing-hopes-wisconsin-bullies-and-secret-funding/

http://thrunlaw.com/news/%E2%80%9Cbig-box%E2%80%9D-tax-appeals-have-big-impact-school-district-finances

http://www.heraldpalladium.com/news/local/big-box-stores-win-big-tinier-tax-bills/article_b704f97b-8455-56fd-8464-f97adbcc625a.html


Bruce A. MacDonald
Assistant Director / Head of Circulation
Peter White Public Library
Marquette, Michigan
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