Another budget storm brewing for the county

Proposed changes to the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, and more discussions about a reduction in revenue sharing, have Presque Isle County officials concerned about the potential impact on the local budget. It?s another case of a weak state economy trickling through to northern Michigan. PI treasurer Pat Cornett says there have to be other ways for the state to trim the budget. In early March, when Gov. Jennifer Granholm?s 2004 budget was unveiled, the Department of Natural Resources budget included drastic cuts in PILT payments to the local units of government for state purchased land.

Specifically, the DNR proposal would pay local governments $2 per acre on more than one million acres of state purchased land. A dollar each would go to the townships and county, however, non-townships or non-county related millages for the six-mill State Education Tax, Intermediate School Districts, local school boards, airport authorities, library districts, etc. would receive nothing under the plan.

ACCORDING TO the Senate Fiscal Agency, the plan would cost $7.7 million from a program that paid out just under $10 million in 2002-03. ?That is fine for the budget problems the state is having, but it does not help out the counties, townships, cities, and villages,? said Cornett. ?If the state owns properties that are assessed at the lower property taxes, they should be required to pay those taxes, just like anybody else.? An unusual joint meeting of the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Environmental Quality was conducted April 24 to address the issue.

?If they don?t have to pay them, are the people in similar situations going to say ?I can?t pay my taxes either?? ? asked Cornett. The liability for taxes would be reduced from $9 million to $2 million, she said. County-wide, the proposal could cost $31,000. ?They can?t continue to make the other local units of government suffer because of budget restraints within the state,? said Cornett. ?There has to be other ways. There has to be other cuts that they can do.?

KELLI SOBEL of the DNR said the department faces increasing pressure in paying for local taxes when no other department in state government has to pay taxes. When the Mackinac Island State Park Commission was part of the department it had to pay taxes; now that it is part of the Department of History, Arts and Libraries it is tax exempt, she told the joint committees. Because of increasing requests by local government that the state purchase land considered critical, and because of increasing assessments, the department and the funds it manages, such as the Natural Resources Trust Fund and the Fish and Game Wildlife Fund, are in real danger of spending all their resources to pay taxes.

The reduction in the PILT would be on top of the revenue sharing cut that took effect for the 2003 budget. In Granholm?s proposed budget for next year, all local units of government will receive three percent less in total revenue sharing than the current year.

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CORNETT SAYS the state education tax bill will be mailed in July. ?People need to be aware that when they get a tax bill July 1, don?t throw it away. It is a valid

tax bill.? For taxpayers in Rogers City who already receive a summer tax bill, it means their bill will be higher in July, but lower in December, Cornett said. The county will be collecting summer taxes for Moltke and Pulawski Township and the city of Onaway. The payment period is from July 1 until September 14. Beginning September 15, the late penalty will be one percent, and will go up one percent every month afterward, until paid.

Cornett said deferments are available through the individual townships for qualified applicants, and that includes Onaway, Moltke and Pulawski townships.

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THE 2003 TAX sale is July 19 in Alpena. Presque Isle County will be auctioning 51 parcels of land, none with structures on them. Just like last year, the property auction will include Cheboygan, Alcona, and Alpena Counties. Last year, 113 parcels of land were foreclosed on in Presque Isle County, by far the most of the four counties. The final redemption period for owners to pay their 1998 and/or 2000 taxes came to an end this week.

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