With property assessments due out at the beginning of March

many commercial land owners, - watching sale prices fall and vacancy rates climb - are preparing to appeal their values to the county or state. But with pending appeals at the Michigan Tax Tribunal having doubled over the past two years, the line to get an ultimate decision on property values as gotten much longer.

According to Tax Tribunal data

nearly 17,000 appeals were pending in the small claims division, which handles most of the tribunal’s cases, as of the end of September 2008. That compares to just under 13,000 at the same time in 2007, and about 8,000 in 2006. More than 10,300 property tax appeals were filed in the year ending September 2008, compared to 8,300 the year before, and just under 5,000 in 2006.

The division known as the “Entire Tribunal,”

which hears more complicated cases, also has seen an increase in property appeals, from about 3,000 in fiscal 2007 to nearly 4,400 in fiscal 2008. Peter Kopke, chief clerk of the Tax Tribunal, said that he expected a similar case load this year. “Based on the continued economic conditions, we would anticipate the same number, if not more,” Kopke said. “That seems to be consistent with the arguments made in front of the tribunal.”

Kopke said the time it takes to resolve a case

depends on many different factors, and that the Tribunal is always reviewing its processes to become more efficient. But the agency hasnt added any new staff to deal with the increasing case load, and he predicted that with the state budget situation being tight, it would be difficult to do so in the near future.

1. -Ann Arbor Business Review, Volume 7, Issue 9
   

2. -Return to the Property Tax Page
   

3. -Read about Foreclosures in Michigan