How do I get my property taxes lowered in the Greater Lansing area?

Many people may feel that with real estate values dropping in the Greater Lansing area in the last 5 years that they are paying too much in property taxes (and in many cases, they would be right!). This post is going to talk about the process and time frame for getting your home reassessed for a new, lower value that is more in line with reality. For information on how property taxes are calculated, please click on the “property taxes” tag on the right side of the blog for older posts on this topic.

Here is what you need to know. Your property taxes are based on two things, the first is the mileage rate (tax rate). This you can not change. It depends on which municipality you live in. The SEV, or State Equalized Value, is the other half of the equation. This number is supposed to be half of the market value of the house. So, a house assessed for $50,000 is deemed by the municipality to have a market value of $100,000. If you feel that your SEV is too high, here is what you can do about it.

February – The new assessments come out for the new tax year. The assessment on your house changes every year based on what the real estate values have done in the previous year. If you are unhappy with the value and feel the your house is being “over-assessed” you can start by calling the city or township assessor to understand where and how they got their value.

March – Every municipality has what is called “March Board of Review” If you are unhappy with your assessment you can go in front of a panel in your municipality and plead your case. This review ONLY happens once a year so if you miss board of review week you are out of luck until next year. Make sure that you have a good case by bringing sold comparables that are similar to your home, or even better a recent appraisal (they are looking for the value of the house as of December 31 of the previous year).

End of March/Beginning of April – You will receive a letter from the Board of Review with your new assessment. Just because you go to Board of Review does not mean that they will change your assesment.

After Board of Review- If you still feel that you are being over assessed and have gone through Board of Review, you can take your case to the State Tax Tribunal. It can take some time (as in years) to get your case in front of the tax tribunal, but if you win they will reimburse you for the taxes you have paid in the meantime on the over assessment while you were waiting to go to court.

I am not an attorney or tax professional. Any sepcific questions should be addressed to the appropriate professionals.

Greater Lansing Michigan Property Taxes

Property taxes for Lansing real estate can be a large chunk of your monthly payment so it is important to understand how they work and which areas have the highest taxes. So let’s break it down into easy, understandable segments. There are two parts to figuring out what your property taxes will be:
1) SEV or State Equalized Value – based on the value of the property
2) Milege rate – based on what municipality the property is located in

So, how is SEV determined and how do you know what it is? The SEV is set by the municipality that the property is located in. It is supposed to represent half of the true cash value. So, for example, if the municipality say that a home is worth $100,000, the SEV would be $50,000. Don’t place too much weight on this value when trying to determine the actual value of a home because this number can vary widely from reality.

The second part of the equation is the milege rate. In the Lansing area, the milege rates vary from the low end of 31.75 in Leslie Township to 56.7 on the high end in the City of East Lansing. So, in order to get the annual taxes all you have to do is take:

SEV/1000 * milege rate

So, in our example of a $100,000 house, if the house is located in the City of Lansing with a milege rate of 43.60, the taxes would be $50,000 SEV/1000 = 50 * 43.60 (milege rate) = $2180 in annual taxes.

The add insult to confusion, there is another value, called the taxable value that is not always the same as the SEV. For our example the taxable value is irrelevant because when you purchase a home your taxes will be paid based on the SEV. Also, if you are looking at foreclosure properties or vacant homes, just note that the tax rate the seller is paying can be as much as 33% higher. The taxes should adjust down in most cases once you move in.

If you are not so confused that you are ready to throw you computer out the window, here is a chart of the different milege, or tax rates, for Greater Lansing Real Estate.

PROPERTY TAX RANKING (TOP 100)
2010 MILEGE RATES
Data from Greater Lansing Association of Realtors
8/20/2010

Millage Rate Taxing Authority School District
56.70 East Lansing Haslett
56.59 East Lansing (Ingham Co.) East Lansing
55.58 Lansing City (Ingham Co.) Holt
54.66 Lansing City Waverly
54.57 Lansing City East Lansing
54.31 Lansing City (Eaton Co.) Holt
52.83 East Lansing (Clinton Co.) East Lansing
52.57 Lansing City Okemos
52.02 Williamston Williamston
51.45 Leslie City Leslie
51.28 Leroy Twp Webberville Village
50.54 East Lansing (Clinton Co.) Bath
50.28 Lansing City (Ingham Co.) Mason
48.32 East Lansing (Ingham Co.) Lansing
47.75 Lansing City Grand Ledge
47.47 Lansing Twp. Waverly
47.38 Dimondale Village Holt
47.37 Lansing Twp. East Lansing
46.31 Meridian Twp Haslett
46.31 Meridian Twp Okemos/Haslett
46.23 Stockbridge Twp Stockbridge Village
46.22 Durand City Durand
46.19 Meridian Twp East Lansing
45.28 Delhi Twp Holt
45.25 Meridian Twp Williamston
45.07 Laingsburg City Laingsburg
45.04 Lansing City (Eaton Co.) Lansing
44.86 Mason City Mason
44.57 East Lansing (Clinton Co.) Lansing
44.19 Meridian Twp Haslett/Okemos
44.19 Meridian Twp Okemos
44.19 DeWitt City DeWitt
43.88 Delhi Twp Eaton Rapids/Holt
43.60 Lansing City (Ingham Co.) Lansing
42.79 Grand Ledge (Eaton Co.) Grand Ledge
42.11 Olivet City Olivet
41.75 Delhi Twp Mason/Holt
41.72 Bellevue Village Bellevue
41.31 Duplain Twp Elsie Village-OE
41.20 Grand Ledge (Clinton Co.) Grand Ledge
41.13 Williamston Twp Perry/Williamston
40.77 Leslie Twp Leslie/Mason
40.38 Belding City Belding
40.30 Delta Twp Holt
40.14 Charlotte City Charlotte
40.11 Ovid Village Ovid/Elsie
39.98 Delhi Twp Mason
39.39 Delta Twp Waverly
39.31 Perry City Perry
39.11 Lansing Twp Lansing
39.04 Ingham Twp Dansville Village
38.98 Delhi Twp Mason/Holt
38.79 Williamston Twp Haslett
38.53 Williamston Twp Perry/Williamston
38.53 Williamston Twp Perry/Williamston
38.47 Corunna City Corunna
38.27 Eaton Rapids City Eaton Rapids
38.26 Portland City Portland
38.08 Leroy Twp Webberville
38.05 Locke Twp Webberville
37.98 Potterville City Potterville
37.87 Williamston Twp Perry/Williamston
37.81 Locke Twp Perry/Williamston
37.73 Williamston Twp Williamston
37.69 Leroy Twp Williamston
37.69 Sunfield Village Lakewood
37.63 Bath Twp Haslett
37.61 Locke Twp Williamston
37.51 Bath Twp East Lansing
37.47 Williamston Twp Perry/Williamston
37.38 Windsor Twp Holt
37.37 Vermontville Village Maple Valley
37.31 White Oak Twp Webberville
37.26 DeWitt Twp East Lansing
37.25 Windsor Twp Holt/Eaton Rapids
37.25 Windsor Twp Holt/Eaton Rapids
37.22 Potterville City Charlotte
37.16 DeWitt Twp DeWitt
37.16 Wheatfield Twp Williamston
37.16 Wheatfield Twp Williamston
36.68 Williamston Twp Okemos
36.47 Windsor Twp Waverly
36.41 Watertown Twp Waverly
36.39 Delhi Twp Eaton Rapids
36.20 Wheatfield Twp Dansville/Williamston
36.20 Wheatfield Twp Dansville/Williamston
36.17 Bunker Hill Twp Leslie
36.07 Leslie Twp Leslie
36.01 Delhi Twp Lansing
35.80 Alaiedon Twp Williamston
35.72 Watertown Twp DeWitt
35.21 Onondaga Twp Leslie
35.09 Onondaga Twp Springport
34.97 DeWitt Twp Bath
34.91 Owosso City Owosso
34.83 Woodhull Twp Haslett/Perry
34.74 Alaiedon Twp Okemos
34.41 Wheatfield Twp Mason
34.32 Williamston Twp Haslett/Okemos
31.75 Leslie Twp Dansville

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