City Completely Disregards the Law to Take More of Your Money

[XLFD]

The city council of Ludington hiked our property taxes by a unanimous vote without discussion by nearly $300,000 in July of 2023.  They compounded that greed by raising property taxes over $300,000 this July in a unanimous vote without meaningful discussion this year.  Property owners of Ludington will be paying over $600,000 more in property taxes next year over what they would have paid had the council allowed "natural lawful forces" to determine the tax rates.  

Those "natural lawful forces" in Michigan are from the citizen-initiated Headlee Amendment (1978) and Proposal A (1994).  An effect of Headlee and Proposal A together means that millage rates become permanently reduced (or “rolled back”) during periods of economic growth, which achieves the desired outcome of protecting taxpayers from taxes that are too high.  The rollbacks allow the taxing units to still grow their property tax revenue by the inflation rate or 5% (whichever is lower).

The Truth in Taxation Act of 1982 was not citizen initiated, but promoted by local government proponents in order to enable them to better adapt to the infrastructure demands of rapid localized growth that Headlee was ill-equipped to deal with.  It allowed the public body to hold a hearing in order to modify the abrupt decline of tax rates that may occur when annual growth rises in the double or triple digits as can occur with rapid growth.  

Since 2010, the City of Ludington has annually held Truth in Taxation hearings in July, but in those 15 years of raising tax rates (or just as often, keeping them unchanged) they have always did it wrong in accordance with the 1982 TT Act, coded fully into law in MCL 211.24E.  I came across the city's shortcoming while researching other things and I prefaced a FOIA request to City Attorney Ross Hammersley for documents I suspected did not exist due to a glaring problem:

"The section of law for "Truth in Taxation" hearings (MCL 211.24e) reads in subsection 7:  "The proposed additional millage rate, which is required by subsection (6) to be part of the notice of the public hearing, shall be established by a resolution adopted by the governing body of the taxing unit before conducting the public hearing.".  In review of the meeting minutes for the last two years, I have not seen any such resolution being passed by the Ludington City Council in any meeting.  If such a resolution was not passed prior to the public hearing, this would presumably invalidate both public hearings and both tax hikes inflicted on the good people of Ludington until further action could be taken by the greedy City of Ludington to steal more money lawfully.

Under provisions of the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (MCL 15.231 et seq; MSA 4.1801 (1) et seq) I am requesting the right to inspect the following records or receive them electronically in .pdf format or on CD for recordings:  Resolutions passed by the Ludington City Council in both 2023 and 2024 before each year's "Truth in Taxation" hearings that fulfill the statutory requirement found in MCL 211.24e(7)

As noted, the law that allows for TT hearings says that a resolution fixing the proposed tax rates must be passed before a hearing can be held.  In no year since the City of Ludington has adopted this practice, by the record of the approved minutes of those respective meetings, has the city council ever adopted a resolution to set those rates.  Not at any meetings before the hearing, and not at the meetings where the hearing was held.  The public is allowed to speak at the hearing, then the council votes on raising taxes.  The method used by the council is totally illegal.

And this was confirmed for the last two years of council greed by the response to my FOIA request, as no records were produced showing that any such resolution was passed before the TT hearing.  Perhaps the funniest thing with the response is that the city attorney requested an extension and then took 21 days after my request was made to tell me that no such records existed.  He would further explain in his denial:

City Attorney Ross Hammersley tries his best to be the great deceiver as the "additional millage rate" as defined in section 1 was plastered all over the public notice for the public hearing on "Increasing Property Taxes".  Here is the truth in taxation cheat sheet provided by the state treasurer, the picture below is the notice tells us explicitly that "if the proposed additional millage rate is not approved the operating revenue will increase by 0.94 over the preceding year" (rather than by 5.1% if that proposed additional millage rate is passed)

The hearing notice tells us that additional millage rate is to be considered, tells us that our taxes are being increased.  Like the worst politician ever, Lyin' Ross Hammersley tells us that our reality is not the same as his baseless legal construction predicated under the big lie that the city's actions are not taking more of your hard-earned money for no reasons given, and the additional millage rate he claims is fanciful, is referred to throughout the notice.

As Hammersley will not admit his mistakes and those of his city lawyer predecessor (Robert Wilson) in establishing his lame defense, it falls upon us to have the state treasury department look into this and all of the other taxing irregularities of the city, including their late (and unlawful) budget amendments for prior years and their premature setting of tax rates before any budget is contemplated. 

This is the germ of their mad money they wish to lavish and gift on crony contractors (chosen in defiance of competitive bidding) and developers at everyone's additional expense, which is why they tell the state that a school playground has historically been commercial property and thus deserves decades of tax relief that you make up for.  Honor and integrity is a lost concept in our current city hall, led by a council-elected city councilor who raised her salary by a factor of 22 at one recent meeting, violating the charter in the process to become an officer not defined by charter.

If the state treasury won't validate the law, it then falls upon us to take back the millions of dollars over the last 15 years taken illegally from us by these unlawfully executed Truth in Taxation hearings.

[Freedom Seeker]

I find it interesting that local readers have more to say about fish guts than taxes being raised without legality in Ludington. How to get those people on board with the heavier political actions?

[XLFD]

If we knew the answer to that question, we would likely be seeing three recall elections happening this fall with at least three reform minded candidates.  If locations around town start smelling really bad, you all of a sudden get a lot of interest in local political issues, at least about what that smell is (recall June 2016's week-long fart from the wastewater treatment plant).  

In case you don't know what FS is talking about, COL fish fridges around town are filled to the rim with the rich smell of chum (see the post in our Ludington Pitchfork site, it has gotten a lot of comments).

[Willy]

Thanks X for continuing to keep the citizens abreast of all the unlawful actions committed by City Hall. When the Council passes these tax hikes are they a permanent increase that is collected year after year or are the increases only collected for the year they were approved in?

[XLFD]

That's a really good question, Willy, and I don't have a really good answer.  When you have Headlee rollbacks that are negated by a TT hearing, the extra money comes in not from an increase in the tax rates themselves (which often remain unchanged from the prior year), but because the valuations of real property have gone up.  The additional $300,000 this year should be realized from last year's actions.  The additional $300,000 expected for next year is above that $300,000 expected this year (which is $300,000 more than there would have been without a TT hearing), so my first thought is that the taxpayers will pay $600,000 more in 2025 than they would have if the council didn't hold TT hearings the last two years and raise taxes. 

With the multiple variables involved, I can't totally dismiss that it may not be so simple.