In order to carry out the purposes, powers, and duties of the
city government, established by this Charter, the city may assess,
levy, and collect taxes, rents, tolls, and excise or specific taxes.
The subjects of ad valorem taxation for municipal purposes shall
be the same as for state, county, and school purposes under the general
law. Except as otherwise provided by this Charter, city taxes shall
be levied, collected, and returned in the manner provided by state
law. No exemptions from taxation shall be allowed, except such as
are expressly required or permitted to be made by state law.
The assessor shall place a value, in accordance with state law,
upon all property, both real and personal, in the city, which is subject
to taxation in accordance with established assessment rules, techniques,
and procedures.
Prior to the first meeting of the board of review in each year,
the assessor shall make and complete an assessment roll in the manner
and form provided in the general tax law of the state.
The board of review shall be appointed by the council and shall
be comprised of two officers of the city, other than the city assessor
or the city clerk, and three persons who are taxpayers of the city
and have been residents of the city for not less than three years.
Such members who are appointed from among the officers of the city
shall be appointed annually in the month of January to serve for one
year. The remaining three members shall be appointed in the first
instance, one to serve for a term of one year, one to serve for a
term of two years, and one to serve for a term of three years; and
the council shall, annually thereafter in the month of January, appoint
one such member of the board to serve for a full term of three years.
The council shall set the compensation of the board of review.
The board of review shall meet on the first Tuesday following
the first Monday in March in each year at such place as shall be designated
by the council, and shall continue in session from day to day, for
the purpose of considering and correcting the roll, for four days,
and as much longer as may be necessary. The board shall remain in
session during such hours as the council may designate, but not less
than six hours on each of said four days. If, for any cause, a quorum
of the board of review does not assemble, or in the event that such
board shall fail or refuse to act, during the days above mentioned,
the roll, as prepared by the assessor, shall stand as if approved
by the board of review. The board of review shall hold a meeting on
or before the first Monday of April and at that meeting, shall complete
the review of the assessment roll submitted to it and shall endorse
and approve the same as provided by law.
The clerk shall give notice to the public of the time and place
of each meeting of the board of review by publication at least once
not less than two weeks immediately preceding such meeting.
On the first day of its first meeting in each year, the board
of review shall elect one of its members Chairman. The clerk shall
be secretary of the board and shall attend its meetings. It shall
be the duty of the clerk to keep a permanent record of all the proceedings
of the board and to enter therein all resolutions and decisions of
the board. It shall be the duty of the assessor to attend all meetings
of the board with the privilege of participating therein, but without
the right to vote upon any decision of the board. The members of said
board shall take the constitutional oath of office which shall be
filed with the clerk. A majority of the members of the board shall
constitute a quorum. For the purpose of reviewing and correcting assessments,
the board of review shall have the same powers and perform like duties
in all respects as are by the general tax law conferred upon and required
of boards of review in townships, in reviewing assessments in townships
for township, state, and county taxes. It shall hear the complaints
of all persons considering themselves aggrieved by assessments, and,
if it shall appear that any person or property has been wrongfully
assessed or omitted from the roll, the board shall correct the roll
in such manner as it shall deem fit. In all cases, the assessment
roll shall be reviewed according to the facts existing on the assessment
day and no change of the status of any property after said day shall
be considered by the board in making its decision. Except as otherwise
provided by state law, no person other than the board of review shall
make or authorize any change upon or additions or corrections to the
assessment roll.
After the board shall have completed its review of the assessment
roll, a majority of its members shall immediately endorse thereon
and sign a statement to the effect that the same is the assessment
roll of the city for the year in which it has been prepared. The omission
of such endorsement shall not affect the validity of such roll. Upon
the completion of said roll and from and after midnight ending the
last day of the meeting of the board of review, the same shall be
the assessment roll of the city for county, school, and city taxes
and for any other taxes on real and personal property that may be
authorized by law and shall be conclusively presumed by all courts
and tribunals to be valid and shall not be set aside except for causes
set forth in the general laws of the state.
Within three days after the council has adopted the budget for
the ensuing year, the clerk shall certify to the assessor the total
amount which the council determines shall be raised by general tax.
After the last day for the meeting of the board of review, the
assessor shall prepare a copy of the assessment roll to be known as
the "city tax roll," and upon receiving the certification of the amount
to be raised, as provided in the preceding section, the assessor shall
proceed to spread the amounts of the general city tax according to
and in proportion to the several valuations set forth in said assessment
roll. For the purpose of avoiding fractions in computation on any
tax roll, the assessor may add to the amount of the several taxes
to be raised not more than the amount prescribed by state law. Any
excess created thereby on any tax roll shall belong to the city. For
convenience, the city tax roll may be divided into volumes.
[Amend. No. 3, 4-6-1953]
After extending the taxes aforesaid and not later than the 1st
day of July in each year, the assessor shall certify said tax roll,
and the mayor shall annex his warrant thereto, directing and requiring
the treasurer to collect from the several persons named in said roll
the several sums mentioned therein opposite their respective names
as a tax or assessment, and granting to him, for the purpose of collecting
the taxes, assessments, and charges on such roll, all the power and
immunities possessed by township treasurers for the collection of
taxes under the general laws of the state.
[Amend. of 1-28-1997]
The city taxes thus assessed against personal property shall
become at once a debt due to the city from the persons to whom they
are assessed, and the amounts assessed on any interest in real property
shall on the thirty-first day of December, prior to the levy of such
taxes, become a lien upon such real property, and the lien for such
amounts and for all interest and other charges thereon shall continue
until payment thereof. All personal taxes shall also be a first lien,
prior, superior and paramount, upon all personal property of the persons
so assessed from and after the thirty-first day of December, prior
to the levy of such taxes, and shall so remain until paid, which said
tax liens shall take precedence over all other claims, encumbrances
and liens upon said personal property, whatsoever, whether created
by chattel mortgage, execution, levy, judgment, or otherwise, and
whether arising before or after the assessment of said personal property
taxes, and no transfer of personal property assessed for taxes thereon
shall operate to divest or destroy such lien except where such personal
property is actually sold in the regular course of retail trade.
The treasurer shall not be required to make personal demand
for the payment of taxes, but notice shall be given to the taxpayers
of the city, by forwarding a statement of taxes due by first class
mail, addressed to the several owners of the property upon which taxes
are assessed according to the names of such owners and their addresses
as indicated on the tax roll, which notice shall be deemed sufficient
for the payment of all taxes on said roll. Failure on the part of
the treasurer to give said notice shall not invalidate the taxes on
said tax roll nor release any person or property assessed from the
penalty provided in this chapter in case of nonpayment of the same.
City taxes shall be due on the first day of July of the fiscal
year when levied. All taxes paid on or before the fifteenth day of
August of such year shall be collected by the city treasurer without
the addition of any fee for collection. There shall be added to all
taxes remaining unpaid after the said fifteenth day of August, a collection
fee of 2%. All taxes not paid on or before the tenth day of September
of such year shall be certified by the city treasurer to the city
assessor, and such unpaid taxes and collection fees shall then be
spread upon the December general tax roll against the descriptions
of property and the several persons therein named for payment and
collection. To all such there shall be added for interest the sum
of 4% for the period from September tenth to January first next thereafter.
An additional collection fee of 3% shall be added to all charges on
the tax roll remaining unpaid on January tenth of the fiscal year
in which such taxes are spread. Such interest and collection fees
shall be collectible in the same manner as the taxes, assessments,
and charges to which they are added. All such collection fees, and
all interest on city taxes shall be paid into the general fund of
the city.
For the purpose of assessing and collecting taxes in the city
for state, county, and school purposes, the city shall be considered
the same as a township, and all provisions of state law relative to
the collection of such taxes and fees to be paid therefor, the accounting
therefor to the appropriate taxing units, and the returning of property
to the county treasurer for nonpayment thereof shall apply to the
performance thereof by the treasurer, who shall perform the same duties
and have the same powers as township treasurers under state law. So
long as school taxes or any part thereof are collected at the same
time as city taxes, they shall be collected subject to the same privileges
and conditions as city taxes under the provisions of this Charter.
[Amend. No. 4, 4-6-1953]
On or before the first day of November in each year, the clerk
shall certify to the assessor, all amounts which are required by this
Charter or which the council requires or orders to be assessed or
reassessed in any street district, sewer district, or other special
assessment district, or upon any description of real property, or
against any person, as a special assessment or otherwise within the
city, together with a description of the land or name and address
of the person upon which or to whom the several sums are to be assessed
or reassessed with such further description and directions as will
enable the assessor to assess the several amounts upon the property
and persons chargeable therewith.
The assessor, upon completing the several rolls, shall certify
to the clerk the amounts of taxes levied in the roll for state and
county purposes, and for city and school taxes, special assessments,
and other purposes; and the clerk shall charge the said amounts to
the treasurer. The treasurer shall give bond to the county treasurer
in the same manner as township treasurers are required to do; and
thereupon, and on or before the first day of December, the assessor
shall deliver certified copies of the several tax rolls, with the
taxes extended therein as aforesaid, to the treasurer, with his warrant
annexed thereto for the collection of the taxes therein. The assessor,
upon the completion of the several city tax rolls, shall certify to
the clerk the amounts of taxes levied therein.
The warrant annexed to each and all of such rolls shall state
the several amounts levied therein to be paid into the city, school,
and county treasuries, respectively; and shall command the treasurer
to collect from the several persons named in said rolls the said amounts;
and the warrant shall authorize the treasurer, in case any person
shall neglect to pay his tax, to levy the same by distress and sale
of the goods and chattels of such person.
All taxes, assessments, and charges levied or spread in any
such tax rolls shall be and remain a lien upon the property until
paid.
Any person owning an undivided share or other part of any parcel
of real property, assessed in one description, may pay the taxes assessed
against such description or may pay the share or part owed by him
by paying an amount having the same relation to the whole tax as the
value of the part on which payment is made bears to the value of the
whole description and the receipt given and the record of the receiving
officer shall show that such payment was made and the claimed interest
upon which it was made.
All taxes, special assessments, collection charges, and interest
on the city tax roll which remain unpaid on the first day of March
following the date when said roll was received by the treasurer shall,
on that date become delinquent and shall be returned to the county
treasurer in the same manner and with like effect as returns by township
treasurers of township, school, and county taxes. Such returns shall
be made upon a delinquent tax roll to be prepared by the treasurer
and shall include all the additional charges and interest which shall,
in such return, be added to the amount assessed in said tax roll against
each description. The taxes, assessments, charges, and interest, thus
returned shall be collected in the same manner as other taxes returned
to the county treasurer are collected under the provisions of the
general laws of the state and shall be and remain a lien upon the
lands against which they are assessed, until paid.
The city shall have power insofar as the exercise thereof shall
not conflict with or contravene the provisions of any general law
of the state, to acquire by purchase any premises within the city
at any tax or other public sale, or by direct purchase from the State
of Michigan, or the fee owner, when the purchase of such property
is necessary to protect the lien of the city for taxes or special
assessments, or both, on said premises and may hold, lease, or sell
the same. Any such procedure exercised by the city in the protection
of its tax lien shall be deemed to be for public purpose.
