Introduced
by
To require voter approval for the creation of a township police and fire special assessment district, and specify how the assessments are to be apportioned. Traditionally, special assessments, which are essentially a property tax, were levied against particular properties to pay for a service that especially benefits them, like a new sewer line serving a particular street. Increasingly they are being used to pay for core government services that do not especially benefit particular parcels. Some believe that this is done because special assessments are not subject to the popular vote on new taxes requirement of the Headlee Amendment. See the report by the Citizens Research Council, <a href="http://crcmich.org/PUBLICAT/1990s/1997/rpt319.pdf">”Ad Valorem Special Assessments in Michigan”</a>.
Referred to the Committee on Tax Policy
