2007 Senate Bill 313

Allow Detroit to attach $300 garbage fees to property tax bills

Introduced in the Senate

March 1, 2007

Introduced by Sen. Gilda Jacobs (D-14)

To eliminate a cap on the maximum amount that tax assessors can raise the assessment of rental property due to a higher occupancy rate, if the assessment had been previously lowered as a result of a lower occupancy rate. A 2002 Supreme Court ruling held that raising these assessments faster than inflation violates the Constitutional tax cap put in place by Proposal A in 1994, which limits assessment increases to five percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. Note: This bill and Senate Bill 312 exempt commercial rental property from the regular property tax law, and instead subject it to a new property tax law which taxes this property at the same rate as the current law. The effect of the bills would be retroactive, requiring property owners whose occupancy increased since 2002 to pay taxes for past years.

Referred to the Committee on Finance

June 21, 2007

Substitute offered

To replace the previous version of the bill with one that does not revise commercial real estate assessments. Instead, the bill was used a "vehicle" to allow Detroit to essentially attach a new $300 solid waste collection fee it has adopted onto property tax bills, so that the city could enforce collection by threatening to foreclose and seize a person's property as with delinquent property tax bills.

The substitute passed by voice vote

Failed in the Senate 6 to 30 (details)

To allow Detroit to essentially attach a new $300 solid waste collection fee it has adopted onto property tax bills, so that the city could enforce collection by threatening to foreclose and seize a person's property as with delinquent property tax bills.

Motion to reconsider by Sen. Alan L. Cropsey (R-33)

The vote by which the bill was defeated. The bill was then "passed (over) for the day," which means it can be brought up in the future for another vote at the discretion of the House leadership.

The motion passed by voice vote

Oct. 3, 2007

Received

Referred to the Committee on Finance