Overassessed and uncompensated.
Those are a couple of words to describe hordes of Detroit homeowners who feel they are being left off of the table when it comes to receiving the hundreds of millions in property overassessments reportedly belonging to them, according to an article from The Detroit News.
Roughly 700 people attended a virtual People’s Forum on Saturday, January 22 through the Coalition for Property Tax Justice to obtain homeowner opinions on the multi-million dollar matter.
Some residents want future compensation or actions put in place to offer rehabilitated homes (in good standing) to those residents who were overassessed, according to the article.
The article added that while a legal opinion from the city says that direct financial payouts to overassessed Detroiters wouldn’t be above board, some residents are still wanting payback.
“I want my money back, but we need to look at those other things and make sure it’s transparent. We all in the same boat,” one resident said.
A January 2020 investigation by The Detroit News revealed that there was major inequitable happenings in the property tax assessments realm in Detroit and the city did not properly reduce property values since the Great Recession. Due to this oversight, Detroit has overtaxed its homeowners by “at least $600 million over a six-year period,” according to the article.
City Council President Mary Sheffield held the event to hear from concerned residents to create a compensation ordinance that she will draft to “address hundreds of millions in property overassessments,” according to the article.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who also attended the event, is also a political leader who has told Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to investigate the property tax situation in the city.
“These overassessments were illegal and gutted out our neighborhoods. What has been taken from you can never been truly be replaced. We are going to work to compensate you and make sure this never happens again,” Tlaib said at the forum to residents. “No more crumbs. This time we are coming for everything Detroiters deserve,” Tliab said. “This is a national problem we cannot continue to ignore.”
Read the full story here.
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