In anticipation of our property taxes going up again, I contacted our State Rep and asked him what the Michigan Congress is doing to help protect homeowners. Here is my problem....as you all know, we live in the city of Lowell. The city of Lowell has one of the highest milage rates in Michigan. So, with that in mind, I started wondering why our property taxes are going up when house values have dropped 18% in the past 12 months.
So, if you own a house....are you thinking the same thing? I wrote a letter to Dave Hildenbrand, he's our State Rep for this area and asked him why cities and townships are allowed to raise our taxable value on our homes when the market value is dropping like a rock. He explained that there was a bill called the Homeowner Protection Act and that it passed a Repbulican lead House and when it got to the Democrat lead Senate, they dropped the ball.
So, I wrote back to Rep. Dave Hildenbrand and below is the letter I got back from him:
Dear Ms. Watkins,
Thank you for taking the time to contact me with your request for an update on the Homeowner's Bill of Rights. I appreciate your attention to this issue.
Please know that House Joint Resolution III (HJR III) was introduced to address the issue of rising property taxes. This resolution is a constitutional amendment that prohibits property taxes from rising when property values decline. HJR III passed the House of Representatives on September 25, 2008 , with my full support. I will push my Senate colleagues to take up this resolution to give property tax relief to our residents.
As for other legislators to contact, you may wish to contact your state Senator, Bill Hardiman, as he represents you in the State Senate. I have listed his contact information below.
The Honorable Bill Hardiman
PO Box 30036
Lansing , MI 48909-7536
Phone (866) 305-2129
www.senate.mi.gov/hardiman
Once again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. It is a privilege to serve you in the Michigan House of Representatives. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of any further assistance.
Sincerely,
Dave Hildenbrand
State Representative
Republican Floor Leader
So, I went ahead and wrote a letter to Senator Hardiman. This is the letter he sent back to me:
Dear Tracy:
Thank you for your correspondence regarding your concerns with rising property taxes. I appreciated hearing from you on this important issue.
As you may be aware, during this past legislative session, the House of Representatives unanimously passed House Joint Resolution III, which would prohibit a property value from increasing when the market value of a home is decreasing. However, House Democrats clerically held up moving the legislation to the Senate before lame duck session had ended. This effectively killed the proposal.
I understand that the sponsor of this legislation plans to re-introduce the measure during the 95th Legislature. I will be sure to keep your concerns in mind should this come before me in the full Senate. You can find the most up-to-date information regarding pending legislation online at: http://legislature.mi.gov.
Again, thank you for contacting me. I value your input and understand your concerns. If there are any other matters pertaining to state government in which I may be of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact my office.
Sincerely,
Bill Hardiman
State Senator
29th District
Why am I telling all of you this? Well, it is my hope that you will send an email to both of them! Especially Senator Bill Hardiman. One person writing might get his attention, but if several people write and they know we are disgruntled about our property taxes, they will listen.
Now, this Bill was reintroduced last week as House Joint Resolution III, or the Homeowner Protection Act. It would stop the cities and townships from being able to raise your property taxes when home values decline.
Way back when....Proposal A was introduced and everyone was in love with it. It limited the amount of property taxes that the cities and townships could collect from a homeowner. The intent of the bill was good but cities and townships found the loophole that stated they could raise the taxes a maximum of 5% or the rate of inflation, whichever was smaller. The "COULD"! They applied it to property taxes as the "CAN". Just because they legally can doesn't mean they should.
When so many people are struggling to pay their bills and keep their homes, why do our local governments feel that it is right to increase our property tax when the value of our home is going down more and more each year. The property taxes are supposed to be based on what a homes true value is. If property value is dropping, and we know it is here in Michigan, why do they feel they should increase our property taxes?
I got online and read the 2008 budget for the City of Lowell. Most of the money went to salaries for city workers. The City Manager especially, he gets a shit load of money and has an expense account. If you are struggling to pay your bills and your property taxes....how good do you feel about giving the city workers money in an expense account? Everyone is cutting back, why aren't our local governments doing the same.
I know that some of you don't live in Lowell, and that's ok. Senator Hardiman is the Senator for this entire area....so you're good to get ahold of him. To find your State Representative go to:
http://house.michigan.gov/find_a_rep.asp
Write your Rep a letter and tell them to support the Homeowner Protection Act for property taxes and then get ahold of Senartor Hardiman to do the same. His information is listed above in Dave Hildenbrands letter. PLEASE get your two cents in so our government here in Michigan stops taking advantage of homeowners.
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