Vengeful City Targets Landlords/Riemer with Covert New Illegal Fees and an 840% Fee Increase

[XLFD]

At tomorrows Ludington City Council meeting the council will consider a resolution that will raise rental registration fees by more than a factor of eight and saddle hundreds of small business owners (landlords, this includes landladies) with what amounts to a new tax.  

When one looks at the packet for the December 8 meeting, starting at p. 104, we find the following chart that is couched in a simple resolution to adopt a new fee schedule, they fortunately saved us some time by showing the current fee (if any) and the proposed fees:

The first problem one sees in this proposal is that they plan on charging hotel's, motel's, bed & breakfast's and affordable single-room-occupancy units' registration and inspection fees, when they are fully excluded from the existing rental inspection program (RIP). They are in fact, specifically excluded as a dwelling in terms of rental inspections in section 6-211 which includes all definitions as used in the rental inspection chapter:

Continuing this line of reasoning, hotels et.al. are not "rental dwellings" because they are not dwellings in the first place, as seen in another definition:

If a hotel et. al. is not a rental dwelling then they do not need to be registered under the RIP, it's that simple

Nor do they need to be inspected, as only rental dwellings are inspected under the current Ludington law.  Imposing fees for registration and inspection of a hotel et. al. is illegal, conducting inspections on hotels et. al. is a violation of the owner's Fourth Amendment rights, because it is an illegal intrusion (actual trespassing, not the false trespassing you try to prosecute) by the government on private property without a warrant being secured.  Summarized for our city overlords, you are preparing to break your own already-onerous laws just in order to steal more money from struggling businesses.

By now, we should not be surprised that city leaders' greed and hubris would lead them to ignore the law, but take a look at the raises on that chart for registration fees for normal rental properties.  The rate will go from $25 every three years up to $70 for every year.  Doing the math, a landlord will pay $210 every three years per unit rather than $25; this is not an incremental raise it's an 840% hike, which indicates that this is not a fee but a tax, as they refuse to tell us why it will take over eight times more resources to register rental dwellings than it has over the last ten years.

This is ludicrous considering that we are starting the fourth three-year cycle of inspections and one may presume that over 90% of the rental stock in Ludington remain under the same ownership and general condition every succeeding year.  The costs over this last decade for this government-mandated program should actually be on the decline, or at least under the inflation rate since 2016, which would put that registration rate in 2025 under $35 every three years:

How did we get here?  Why haven't we heard of this before this weekend?  Why haven't the small business owners affected been asked for input? 

All good questions.  The first substantive indication we had that the City of Ludington (COL), a public body with revenues growing significantly higher than the inflation rate, wanted to amp their income by raising the costs of a city-mandated service that nobody ever wanted-- not landlords, not tenants, not the general public-- was in the Nov. 18, 2025 notes of the Building and Licenses Standing Committee where we see that City Attorney Ross "Sewage" Hammersley had set the rates that you see above.

  

One wonders why the city attorney is setting rates when the COL has a full staff of personnel in the zoning and housing departments that should know the costs and revenues incurred.  That fact alone should make one suspicious in thinking that this proposed fee scheduling action was prompted more by the legal wing of the city corporate, rather than by the bean-counters in the above departments plus the clerical and treasurer personnel.  

This resolution should be immediately rescinded by the council at the meeting due to its overreach in trying to expand an existing ordinance's definitions to include hotels, motels, B&Bs, and SROs.  City Attorney Sewage should know by now that you cannot amend the definitions of an existing passed ordinance through a covert resolution, that can only happen through another ordinance.  

While this article will likely influence the council to not pass the resolution in regard to hotels et. al., their current well-established money-grabbing characteristic may have them still consider the 840% hike in registration fees.  As the Ludington Torch has said all along, this is not a fee increase it is an eightfold tax increase on a class of businesses, the law says so as it conveys no benefit to landlords, is compulsory for landlords, and with this gigantic hoist/heist, is definitely not proportional:

In the title, we hint that this new tax is targeting not only landlords but Dr. Andrew Riemer specifically.  The good eye doctor owns a lot of properties in Ludington, both residential and business, that he rents out.  One can do a search at the city assessor website and find over a page of entries of properties he owns, including the one that's been in the news where the COL's unproportional reaction to his support columns has led to serious civil charges against what was an obvious attempt at criminal extortion by the COL.  

It's not a big intellectual leap to believe that this unethical tax hike was motivated by retaliation towards Reimer and other critics of the COL who are directly or indirectly involved with rental properties and will have to endure this targeting of them.  Not to mention the owners of hotels, et. al. who see the city trying to bust down their doors solely for the reason to gain even more tax revenue, even when it just isn't lawful.

O, the hypocrisy of a city hall who regularly tell us of how they plan to tackle the affordable housing crisis and come back to us through hiking the registration taxes by 840% of the affordable housing stock left.  If this doesn't sit well with you as a renter (who will see this tax hike indirectly), a landlord, or just as a citizen who doesn't appreciate the city treating a class of small business owners almost as bad as they have treated the private marina owners over the last five decades, go to Ludington City Hall at 6 PM this Monday and give them your concerns.

[dowland]

Why would any 1 want to start a business in taxesvill ?  

[John Michelle]

This proposed increase in rental registration fees feels less like regulation and more like an added financial burden on small landlords who are already navigating rising costs. Decisions like this deserve transparent discussion and consideration of long-term impacts on housing availability. For more insights on community policies and everyday living topics, visit Kitchen.

[John Michelle]

It’s always fascinating how small villages and towns are connected by such short distances, especially in regions with rich local history like around Ludington and Scottville. These kinds of details really help paint a clearer picture of the area’s character and development something that often influences local culture, lifestyle, and even Fashion trends tied to regional identity.