Home Ownership in Metro-Detroit Just Became More Affordable
Earlier this year, the Detroit City Council aggressively encouraged anyone who failed to pay their 2003 property taxes to do so before May 25, 2006, or face foreclosure and the loss of their homes. Now, a couple of months after the deadline, the nine-member City Council unanimously voted to approve the Mayor’s tax plan, which he says will provide homeowners with significant relief from the city’s high property-tax rate.
From Saturday’s online edition of the Detroit Free Press:
Detroiters’ efforts pay off: Council approves tax relief
By Marisol Bello
Free Press Staff WriterIn the last week, dozens of residents in 25 Detroit neighborhoods, from Rosedale Park to East English Village, have bombarded the Detroit City Council with letters, e-mails and phone calls, urging members to approve a plan to cut their property taxes by up to 35%.
On Friday, their efforts paid off.The council voted unanimously to approve Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s tax plan, which he said he hopes will provide homeowners some relief from the city’s high property-tax rate. The cuts range from 18% to 35%, depending on the property’s value.
Themilie Bush, who lives in the Arden Park neighborhood, is one of dozens who wrote council members and urged her neighbors to do the same.
She and her husband bought their home in 2002. They pay $7,500 in property taxes, $5,000 in car insurance and $3,800 in homeowners insurance, she said.
She was ecstatic that her family would receive relief that would help them, and others like them, remain in the city.
“We appreciate that council took this first step,” Bush said.
About 20,000 homes are eligible for the tax cut. Homeowners are eligible if they bought their homes after 1997 and the homes sit on parcels mapped before 1968.
The cuts will take effect beginning July 1, 2007; the city will notify eligible homeowners by letter in the coming weeks.
The city plans to expand the program to 47 neighborhoods over the next three years.
Hats off to the Detroit City Council?¢‚Ǩ¬¶ rarely do homeowners ever see moves like this one. Way to go! Home ownership in metro-Detroit just became a little more affordable.



