Pokagon resists summer tax collection fee
Published 6:45 am Thursday, June 12, 2003
By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Pokagon Township's board considered instituting a 1-percent summer tax collection administrative fee at June's meeting Wednesday night, but yielded to a vocal audience opposed to Treasurer Lynn Schantz's recommendation.
Schantz said she will be placing a newsletter in summer tax bills.
There are also deferments for farmers, those who are 62 with incomes less than $25,000 or who have physical or mental handicaps.
Schantz said she believes Pokagon is the only one of Cass County's 15 townships not charging an administrative fee. She suggested 1 percent of the total tax bill to offset revenue sharing reductions.
Schantz proposed the fee just on summer taxes, raising $6,000 from 1,512 parcels in the township.
Audience members argued even 1 percent might be too steep with laid-off citizens struggling just to pay their taxes.
County Commissioner Minnie Warren, D-Pokagon Township, inquired, "Are you proposing it one time or are you going to do this every year? Maybe we need to take a look at it in the next go-around because summer taxes is a whammy to us already."
Pokagon's board did, however, make a couple of other adjustments the treasurer recommended. A $25 charge for returned checks will be instituted. Lending institutions requesting second tax bills will be charged $2 for faxed copies or $3 if they are mailed.
Any overpayment of $2 or less will not be refunded. Schantz recalled cutting a $1.67 rebate check which cost much more than that between the envelope, postage and her time.
In other business, in response to residents' questions over the controversial Eagle's Wood housing development approved for the commercial center developed with a P.A. 425 agreement and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, Pokagon Township is having its attorney review the matter.
Clerk Linda Preston, who demanded an apology from Mayor Don Lyons after his remarks that township residents are not part of the Dowagiac community, said, "A couple of issues have been brought to our attention and we're trying to put something together to respond."
Petitions addressed to MSHDA were also circulating through the audience.
In addition to hiring Fred Minikel as zoning administrator at the May 14 meeting, Pokagon has appointed Leon Gilliam as blight officer, although it's unclear when he will begin his duties.
He injured his back making an arrest at his primary job as a Cass County Sheriff's Office deputy. He performs similar enforcement in Vandalia.
The Pokagon board interviewed Gilliam at a special meeting June 2.
Blight complaint forms are filed through Supervisor John True.
Trustee Bob Shaffer said it was discovered while reviewing old records that the Sumnerville Cemetery Association was established in 1890 and turned the burial ground over to Pokagon Township a century later, in 1990.