LANSING – Legislation sponsored by Sen. John Proos to reduce local government administrative costs is on its way to the governor to be signed.
Senate Bills 322 and 323 would allow local governments to collect winter property tax payments of $100 or less in the summer property tax levy.
“I have had to mail out tax bills to property owners for amounts less than the cost of the postage stamp,” said St. Joseph City Treasurer and Clerk, Deb Koroch. “I brought this issue to John’s attention because I wanted communities to have the option of combining the winter and summer tax rolls when the winter taxes for most properties would be so small that the second tax bill would be a financial burden to the communities and an inconvenience to our taxpayers.”
To improve cash flow, many Michigan local governments now bill almost all local property tax in the summer. However, these local entities often have a small amount of tax levy that is billed in the winter, leading to mailing and processing tax bills and payments of $100 or less.
State Senator John Proos
“This is about improving government efficiency and giving our locals the option of using their resources on other community priorities,” said Proos, R-St. Joseph. “Giving local units of government the flexibility to spend the time, labor and money to collect less than $100 in property taxes in the summer is an inefficient use of our limited tax dollars. Eliminating the need to mail and collect winter tax bills of small amounts will help cut costs for thousands of Michigan small towns and townships.”
It is estimated that the reforms would eliminate more than 100,000 winter tax bills that currently need to be mailed, as well as the processing of the related payments.
“The measures would not affect the amount of taxes owed by a property owner, and the decision to make this change would be left to local officials,” Proos said. “This is not a mandate. It is simply giving our communities the flexibility to make this change as a way to reduce costs.” (John Proos audio clip- :22)
SBs 322-323 were supported by the Michigan Association of Counties and are now on their way to the governor, who is expected to sign the reforms into law.
Source: News release from state Senator John Proos
Quote from the article above……“I have had to mail out tax bills to property owners for amounts less than the cost of the postage stamp,” said St. Joseph City Treasurer and Clerk, Deb Koroch. “I brought this issue to John’s attention because I wanted communities to have the option of combining the winter and summer tax rolls when the winter taxes for most properties would be so small that the second tax bill would be a financial burden to the communities and an inconvenience to our taxpayers.”,,,,,,,
Less than the cost of a postage stamp you say……Apparently I need to get out more because that property tax situation doesn’t exist in my world or anyone that I know or a tax bill less than $100. But what an excellent way to end load the property tax situation even further for the little guy since it only seems to effect property tax bills of someone with less that $100 in Summer taxes. I’m betting those in that situation probably have a financial situation where that tax bill lumped in to one bill probably a meaningful incremental bite out of their finances.,,,
OK, so on paper it says it would reduce 100,000 tax notices a year. OK dispersed over how many tax bills statewide? Probably a pittance in the overall scheme of things when you disperse that 100,000 state wide. I wonder how much it cost in government workers time to pass this little windfall. Is it really that much of a savings…last time I checked, most treasurers were paid a fixed amount per year…its not like they get paid any more or any less for the number of tax bills they send out right? If so, then what’s the real savings to tax payers…the cost of the postage stamp? (100,000 x the cost of a postage stamp).
This still pales in comparison to the one that I just shake my head in disbelief every time I read it…The one that takes the cake is Sturgis–as I recall they charge like a 2% fee in order to cover the costs to collect the taxes..I mean a tax or fee to cover the costs to collect the other taxes/fees….only in government does that make sense and people get away with it.