The TIF Lawsuit

Michigan’s economic development platform is
based on TIF (Tax Increment Financing,) the
notion that increased taxes paid by businesses
locating in a specific area will be used to pay for
infrastructure and other economic development
incentives needed to assist their location in the
designated area.

A few days ago I went to the Iron County
Courthouse and briefly reviewed the TIF
lawsuit between municipalities and the
County. Some things came to light that are
generally not known by the public at large.

For example, did you know that when someone
is late in paying their property taxes, the County
lends the money to the municipality before that
tax is paid?

What does this mean to Iron River Township where
delinquent water and sewer bills are supposed to
go to property taxes by law? We have the recent
report from the Township Supervisor that the
township has been sitting on late/non-payments!

And of course so long as the township is sitting on
those delinquent payments, they're charging those
poor souls 10% per month late penalty. That 10%
becomes 314% when annualized. If they forwarded
the delinquent amount to the treasurer on schedule
that penalty drops to 1% per month and the township
would have its money.

Why did Iron River Township violate the law?

A few pages from the County's reply to a motion
by the Plaintiff cities is online. They are pages
5-6 and 13-15. If you read them, please don't try
to make sense of the discontinuity between pages
6 and 13 because it won't work.

They're now arguing about the wording of millage
proposals on the ballots, and whether or not those
proposals were valid or not! It is a mess.

The copies from the TIF lawsuit are available
for you to read at:

http://bill-vajk.angelfire.com/TIF-lawsuit.pdf

This lawsuit has not received much play in the
other local news media because it airs some dirty
laundry among the county and some municipalities.
Heaven forbid that those of us who elect the people
involved in this debacle should have any solid
information on which to base our choices on
election day!

As time permits, IronCountyDoings will attempt
to bring you more information on this matter.

Bill Vajk