Written by Forrest Wall, CAE, Staff Vice President and Industry Relations
AAM Secures Important Legislative Victory!
partment Association has been working very hard these past few months to secure passage of one of our top legislative priorities – increasing the interest rate on Tax Tribunal appeals. This proposed change was embodied in House Bill 5340, which amended the statutory interest rate in the Tax Tribunal Act from a rate tied to the 90 day T-bill to a new floating rate based on the Prime Rate. The impetus for this legislation was based on two issues:
1) There has been a fundamental fairness problem when you compare the low rate on tax appeals (averaged just over 1 percent in recent years) to the high rate on delinquencies (can be up to 18 percent).
2) At the low T-bill based rate of 1 percent, there was no incentive for a local government to seek expedient resolution of cases before the Tribunal. This has also contributed to the backlog of cases at the Tribunal.
After initial passage in April by the Michigan House of Representatives, on June 14th the Michigan Senate passed an amended version of the bill, which set the floating rate at Prime plus 1 percent. The bill was signed by Governor Snyder on June 26th, and with that signature House Bill 5034 became Public Act 220 of 2012. The new rate structure took effect on July 1, 2012. With Prime currently at 3.25 percent, the new interest rate on appeals is 4.25 percent, but this rate will then adjust based on future changes to the Prime Rate.
This is a significant victory for property owners across the state. A special thanks go to: AAM President Tom Shumaker for his contributions (including multiple trips to Lansing) in support of the effort; our Lansing lobbyists, Jack Schick and Joe Palamara of Karoub Associates; Stewart Mandell at Honigman for his bill language and counsel along the way; our partners, The International Council of Shopping Centers; and, our bill sponsor, Rep. Jud Gilbert. For a copy of Public Act 220 of 2012, go to www.apartments.org or e-mail me at forrestw@builders.org.
Wanted: Locations To Place Campaign Signage
Candidates for elected office are always seeking high visibility locations for political signs. Our industry is in a unique position to fulfill this need given the prime locations of property owned by members. As a part of our grassroots political relations program, AAM is asking for your assistance by letting us know where you have property that you would be willing to allow candidate signage to be placed.
AAM is developing a master list of such locations to act as a conduit between the industry and politicians. You will not be solicited directly by the candidates, as the Association will be the intermediary, and you will have final approval before signage is placed. This initiative gives our organization another opportunity to develop relationships with legislators beyond campaign contributions. For more information contact me at 248-862-1004, or e-mail potential locations to: forrestw@builders.org.