Board Calls on Attorney to Assist Overworked Clinton Township Assessors

Struggling with a backlog of Michigan Tax Tribunal cases dating to 2010, an understaffed and overworked Clinton Township Assessing Department was granted a sort of reprieve this week by the township board.  

Per an agreement with Tim Tomlinson, the township’s current MTT attorney, Tomlinson has agreed to assume additional duties dealing with tax tribunal matters while remaining within the $50,000 budget allocated annually for his work.

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However, any case requiring a hearing before the full tribunal will be billed at a rate of $95 per hour, which is above and beyond the $50,000 cap.

Township attorney Jack Dolan said most cases are resolved long before reaching this stage, so additional charges should be minimal.

The township’s assessing department began performing the majority of work related to tribunal cases, which includes answering, tracking, reviewing, preparing appraisal studies, defending appraisals, attending hearings and meeting with taxpayers and attorneys to determine proper property valuations, in September 2011.

“While this has resulted in a considerable cost savings for the township, it has created a tremendous increase in the workload within the department, which is at staffing levels 50 percent of past years,” wrote Supervisor Bob Cannon in a recent letter to the board.

At present, there are more than 350 tax tribunal cases pending in Clinton Township, some of which Assessor James Elrod said date to 2010.

The Michigan Tax Tribunal is an administrative court that hears tax appeals for all Michigan taxes, including those involving property tax as well as business and individual tax disputes.