HB-4436, As Passed House, June 29, 2011HB-4436, As Passed House, June 29, 2011HB-4436, As Passed Senate, June 29, 2011
March 15, 2011, Introduced by Rep. Johnson and referred to the Committee on Local, Intergovernmental, and Regional Affairs.
A bill to amend 1893 PA 206, entitled
"The general property tax act,"
by amending sections 44 and 44a (MCL 211.44 and 211.44a), section
44 as amended by 2008 PA 352 and section 44a as amended by 2008 PA
498.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 44. (1) Upon receipt of the tax roll, the township
treasurer or other collector shall proceed to collect the taxes.
The township treasurer or other collector shall mail to each
taxpayer at the taxpayer's last known address on the tax roll or to
the taxpayer's designated agent a statement showing the description
of the property against which the tax is levied, the taxable value
of the property, and the amount of the tax on the property. If a
tax statement is mailed to the taxpayer, a tax statement sent to a
taxpayer's designated agent may be in a summary form or may be in
an electronic data processing format. If the tax statement
information is provided to both a taxpayer and the taxpayer's
designated agent, the tax statement mailed to the taxpayer may be
identified as an informational copy. A township treasurer or other
collector electing to send a tax statement to a taxpayer's
designated agent or electing not to include an itemization in the
manner described in subsection (10)(d) in a tax statement mailed to
the taxpayer shall, upon request, mail a detailed copy of the tax
statement, including an itemization of the amount of tax in the
manner described by subsection (10)(d), to the taxpayer without
charge.
(2) The expense of preparing and mailing the statement shall
be paid from the county, township, city, or village funds. Failure
to send or receive the notice does not prejudice the right to
collect or enforce the payment of the tax. The township treasurer
shall remain in the office of the township treasurer at some
convenient place in the township from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to receive
taxes on the following days:
(a) At least 1 business day between December 25 and December
31 unless the township has an arrangement with a local financial
institution to receive taxes on behalf of the township treasurer
and to forward that payment to the township on the next business
day. The township shall provide timely notification of which
financial institutions will receive taxes for the township and
which days the treasurer will be in the office to receive taxes.
(b) The last day that taxes are due and payable before being
returned as delinquent under section 78a(2).
(c) For the collection of a summer tax levy, the last day
taxes are due and payable before interest is added under section
44a(5).
(3) Except as provided by subsection (7), on a sum voluntarily
paid before February 15 of the succeeding year, the local property
tax collecting unit shall add a property tax administration fee of
not more than 1% of the total tax bill per parcel. However, unless
otherwise provided for by an agreement between the assessing unit
and the collecting unit, if a local property tax collecting unit
other than a village does not also serve as the local assessing
unit, the excess of the amount of property tax administration fees
over the expense to the local property tax collecting unit in
collecting the taxes, but not less than 80% of the fee imposed,
shall be returned to the local assessing unit. A property tax
administration fee is defined as a fee to offset costs incurred by
a collecting unit in assessing property values, in collecting the
property tax levies, and in the review and appeal processes. The
costs of any appeals, in excess of funds available from the
property tax administration fee, may be shared by any taxing unit
only if approved by the governing body of the taxing unit. Except
as provided by subsection (7), on all taxes paid after February 14
and before taxes are returned as delinquent under section 78a(2)
the governing body of a city or township may authorize the
treasurer to add to the tax a property tax administration fee to
the extent imposed on taxes paid before February 15 and the day
that taxes are returned as delinquent under section 78a(2) a late
penalty charge equal to 3% of the tax. The governing body of a city
or township may waive interest from February 15 to the last day of
February on a summer property tax that has been deferred under
section 51 or any late penalty charge for the homestead property of
a senior citizen, paraplegic, quadriplegic, hemiplegic, eligible
serviceperson, eligible veteran, eligible widow or widower, totally
and permanently disabled person, or blind person, as those persons
are defined in chapter 9 of the income tax act of 1967, 1967 PA
281, MCL 206.501 to 206.532, if the person makes a claim before
February 15 for a credit for that property provided by chapter 9 of
the income tax act of 1967, 1967 PA 281, MCL 206.501 to 206.532, if
the person presents a copy of the form filed for that credit to the
local treasurer, and if the person has not received the credit
before February 15. The governing body of a city or township may
waive interest from February 15 to the day taxes are returned as
delinquent under section 78a(2) on a summer property tax deferred
under section 51 or any late penalty charge for a person's property
that is subject to a farmland development rights agreement recorded
with the register of deeds of the county in which the property is
situated as provided in section 36104 of the natural resources and
environmental protection act, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.36104, if the
person presents a copy of the development rights agreement or
verification that the property is subject to a development rights
agreement before February 15. A 4% county property tax
administration fee, a property tax administration fee to the extent
imposed on and if authorized under subsection (7) for taxes paid
before taxes are returned as delinquent under section 78a(2), and
interest on the tax at the rate of 1% per month shall be added to
taxes collected by the township or city treasurer after the last
day taxes are payable before being returned as delinquent under
section 78a(2) and before settlement with the county treasurer, and
the payment shall be treated as though collected by the county
treasurer. If the statements required to be mailed by this section
are not mailed before December 31, the treasurer shall not impose a
late penalty charge on taxes collected after February 14.
(4) The governing body of a local property tax collecting unit
may waive all or part of the property tax administration fee or the
late penalty charge, or both. A property tax administration fee
collected by the township treasurer shall be used only for the
purposes for which it may be collected as specified by subsection
(3) and this subsection. If the bond of the treasurer, as provided
in section 43, is furnished by a surety company, the cost of the
bond may be paid by the township from the property tax
administration fee.
(5) If apprehensive of the loss of personal tax assessed upon
the roll, the township treasurer may enforce collection of the tax
at any time, and if compelled to seize property or bring an action
in December may add, if authorized under subsection (7), a property
tax administration fee of not more than 1% of the total tax bill
per parcel and 3% for a late penalty charge.
(6) Along with taxes returned delinquent to a county
treasurer, the amount of the property tax administration fee
prescribed by subsection (3) that is imposed and not paid shall be
included in the return of delinquent taxes and, when delinquent
taxes are distributed by the county treasurer under this act, the
delinquent property tax administration fee shall be distributed to
the treasurer of the local unit who transmitted the statement of
taxes returned as delinquent. Interest imposed upon delinquent
property taxes under this act shall also be imposed upon the
property tax administration fee and, for purposes of this act other
than for the purpose of determining to which local unit the county
treasurer shall distribute a delinquent property tax administration
fee, any reference to delinquent taxes shall be considered to
include the property tax administration fee returned as delinquent
for the same property.
(7) The local property tax collecting treasurer shall not
impose a property tax administration fee, collection fee, or any
type of late penalty charge authorized by law or charter unless the
governing body of the local property tax collecting unit approves,
by resolution or ordinance adopted after December 31, 1982, an
authorization for the imposition of a property tax administration
fee, collection fee, or any type of late penalty charge provided
for by this section or by charter, which authorization shall be
valid for all levies that become a lien after the resolution or
ordinance is adopted. However, unless otherwise provided for by an
agreement between the assessing unit and the collecting unit, a
local property tax collecting unit that does not also serve as the
assessing unit shall impose a property tax administration fee on
each parcel at a rate equal to the rate of the fee imposed for city
or township taxes on that parcel.
(8) The annual statement required by 1966 PA 125, MCL 565.161
to 565.164, or a monthly billing form or mortgagor passbook
provided instead of that annual statement shall include a statement
to the effect that a taxpayer who was not mailed the tax statement
or a copy of the tax statement by the township treasurer or other
collector shall receive, upon request and without charge, a copy of
the tax statement from the township treasurer or other collector
or, if the tax statement has been mailed to the taxpayer's
designated agent, from either the taxpayer's designated agent or
the township treasurer or other collector. A designated agent who
is subject to 1966 PA 125, MCL 565.161 to 565.164, and who has been
mailed the tax statement for taxes that became a lien in the
calendar year immediately preceding the year in which the annual
statement may be required to be furnished shall mail, upon request
and without charge to a taxpayer who was not mailed that tax
statement or a copy of that tax statement, a copy of that tax
statement.
(9) For taxes levied after December 31, 2001, if taxes levied
on qualified real property remain unpaid on February 15, all of the
following shall apply:
(a) The unpaid taxes on that qualified real property shall be
collected in the same manner as unpaid taxes levied on personal
property are collected under this act.
(b) Unpaid taxes on qualified real property shall not be
returned as delinquent to the county treasurer for forfeiture,
foreclosure, and sale under sections 78 to 79a.
(c) If a county treasurer discovers that unpaid taxes on
qualified real property have been returned as delinquent for
forfeiture, foreclosure, and sale under sections 78 to 79a, the
county treasurer shall return those unpaid taxes to the appropriate
local tax collection unit for collection as provided in subdivision
(a).
(10) As used in this section:
(a) "Designated agent" means an individual, partnership,
association, corporation, receiver, estate, trust, or other legal
entity that has entered into an escrow account agreement or other
agreement with the taxpayer that obligates that individual or legal
entity to pay the property taxes for the taxpayer or, if an
agreement has not been entered into, that was designated by the
taxpayer on a form made available to the taxpayer by the township
treasurer and filed with that treasurer. The designation by the
taxpayer shall remain in effect until revoked by the taxpayer in a
writing filed with the township treasurer. The form made available
by the township treasurer shall include a statement that submission
of the form allows the treasurer to mail the tax statement to the
designated agent instead of to the taxpayer and a statement
notifying the taxpayer of his or her right to revoke the
designation by a writing filed with the township treasurer.
(b) "Qualified real property" means buildings and improvements
located upon leased real property that are assessed as real
property under section 2(1)(c), except buildings and improvements
exempt under section 9f, if the value of the buildings or
improvements is not otherwise included in the assessment of the
real property.
(c) "Taxpayer" means the owner of the property on which the
tax is imposed.
(d) When describing in subsection (1) that the amount of tax
on the property must be shown in the tax statement, "amount of tax"
means an itemization by dollar amount of each of the several ad
valorem property taxes and special assessments that a person may
pay under section 53 and an itemization by millage rate, on either
the tax statement or a separate form accompanying the tax
statement, of each of the several ad valorem property taxes that a
person may pay under section 53. The township treasurer or other
collector may replace the itemization described in this subdivision
with a statement informing the taxpayer that the itemization of the
dollar amount and millage rate of the taxes is available without
charge from the local property tax collecting unit.
Sec. 44a. (1) Notwithstanding any other statutory or charter
provision to the contrary, beginning in 2005 and each year after
2005, a county shall impose as a summer property tax levy that
portion of the number of mills allocated to the county by a county
tax allocation board or authorized for the county through a
separate tax limitation vote as provided in this section. The
treasurer that collects the state education tax shall collect the
summer property tax levy under this section. The portion of the
total number of mills allocated to a county by a county tax
allocation board or authorized for a county through a separate tax
limitation vote that shall be imposed in each year as a summer
property tax levy under this section is as follows:
(a) In 2005, 1/3 of the total number of mills allocated to the
county by a county tax allocation board or authorized for the
county through a separate tax limitation vote.
(b) In 2006, 2/3 of the total number of mills allocated to the
county by a county tax allocation board or authorized for the
county through a separate tax limitation vote.
(c) In 2007 and each year after 2007, the total number of
mills allocated to the county by a county tax allocation board or
authorized for the county through a separate tax limitation vote.
(2) Before June 30 and in conformance with the procedures
prescribed by this act, the taxes being collected as a summer
property tax levy shall be spread in terms of millages on the
assessment roll, the amount of tax levied shall be assessed in
proportion to the taxable value, and a tax roll shall be prepared
that commands the appropriate treasurer to collect on July 1 the
taxes indicated as due on the tax roll.
(3) Taxes authorized to be collected shall become a lien
against the property on which assessed, and due from the owner of
that property on July 1.
(4) All taxes and interest imposed pursuant to this section
that are unpaid before March 1 shall be returned as delinquent on
March 1 and collected pursuant to this act.
(5) Interest shall be added to taxes collected after September
14 at that rate imposed by section 78a on delinquent property tax
levies that became a lien in the same year. However, if September
14 is on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the last day taxes
are due and payable before interest is added is on the next
business day and interest shall be added to taxes that remain
unpaid on the immediately succeeding business day. The tax levied
under this act that is collected with the city taxes shall be
subject to the same penalties, interest, and collection charges as
city taxes and shall be returned as delinquent to the county
treasurer in the same manner and with the same interest, penalties,
and fees as city taxes.
(6) All or a portion of the fees or charges, or both,
authorized under section 44 may be imposed on taxes paid before
March 1 and shall be retained by the treasurer actually performing
the collection of the summer property tax levy pursuant to this
section, regardless of whether all or part of these fees or
charges, or both, have been waived by the township or city.
(7) Collections shall be remitted to the county for which the
taxes were collected pursuant to section 43.
(8) To the extent applicable and consistent with the
requirements of this section, this act shall apply to proceedings
in relation to the assessment, spreading, and collection of taxes
pursuant to this section.
(9) Each county shall establish a restricted fund known as the
revenue sharing reserve fund. The total amount required to be
placed in the revenue sharing reserve fund for each county shall
equal the amount of that county's December 2004 property tax levy
of the total number of mills allocated to the county by a county
tax allocation board or authorized for the county through a
separate tax limitation vote, less any amount of tax levy captured
and used under a tax increment financing plan under 1975 PA 197,
MCL 125.1651 to 125.1681; the tax increment finance authority act,
1980 PA 450, MCL 125.1801 to 125.1830; the local development
financing act, 1986 PA 281, MCL 125.2151 to 125.2174; or the
brownfield redevelopment financing act, 1996 PA 381, MCL 125.2651
to 125.2672, and shall be deposited in the revenue sharing reserve
fund as provided in this section. Revenues credited to the revenue
sharing reserve fund from the December tax levy of a county with a
fiscal year ending December 31 shall be accrued to the fiscal year
ending in the year of that December property tax levy. Revenue
shall be credited to the fund by each county as follows:
(a) From the county's December 2004 property tax levy, 1/3 of
the total December levy of the total number of mills allocated to
the county by a county tax allocation board or authorized for the
county through a separate tax limitation vote, less any amount of
tax levy captured and used under a tax increment financing plan
under 1975 PA 197, MCL 125.1651 to 125.1681; the tax increment
finance authority act, 1980 PA 450, MCL 125.1801 to 125.1830; the
local development financing act, 1986 PA 281, MCL 125.2151 to
125.2174; or the brownfield redevelopment financing act, 1996 PA
381, MCL 125.2651 to 125.2672.
(b) From the county's December 2005 property tax levy, 1/2 of
the remaining balance required to be deposited in the fund.
(c) From the county's December 2006 property tax levy, the
balance required to be deposited in the fund.
(10) All of the following apply to a revenue sharing reserve
fund established under subsection (9):
(a) Funds in the revenue sharing reserve fund may not be
expended in any fiscal year except as provided in this section.
(b) Funds in the revenue sharing reserve fund may be used
within a county fiscal year for cash flow purposes at the
discretion of the county.
(c) Interest earnings on funds deposited in the revenue
sharing reserve fund shall be credited to the revenue sharing
reserve fund. However, the county is not required to reimburse the
revenue sharing reserve fund for a reduction of interest earnings
that occurs because funds in the revenue sharing reserve fund were
used for cash flow purposes.
(d) The revenue sharing reserve fund shall be separately
reported in the annual financial report required under section 4 of
1919 PA 71, MCL 21.44.
(11) For a county fiscal year that ends on December 31, 2004,
a county may expend in that fiscal year an amount not to exceed the
payments made to that county under the Glenn Steil state revenue
sharing act of 1971, 1971 PA 140, MCL 141.901 to 141.921, in
October and December 2003 and, if the payment is accrued back to
the county's 2003 fiscal year, February 2004.
(12) Not later than March 1, 2005, a county that receives a
payment in October 2004 as provided in a bill making appropriations
to the department of treasury for the 2004-05 fiscal year shall pay
the amount of that payment to the state treasurer from the revenue
sharing reserve fund. A county that does not make the payment
required under this subsection shall not make any expenditures from
the fund provided under subsection (13).
(13) For each fiscal year of a county that begins after
September 30, 2004, a county may expend from the revenue sharing
reserve fund an amount not to exceed the total payments made to
that county under the Glenn Steil state revenue sharing act of
1971, 1971 PA 140, MCL 141.901 to 141.921, in the state fiscal year
ending September 30, 2004, adjusted annually by the inflation rate,
without regard to any executive orders issued after May 17, 2004.
As used in this subsection, "inflation rate" means that term as
defined in section 34d.