Local land values fall, commercial hit hard
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David Lee, the chief assessor for East Lansing and Meridian Township had a hunch that he would see a noticeable drop in residential property values in the city and the township as he prepared for another tax year. But it didn’t happen. “I had been anticipating a 5-8 percent drop in residential property values, but in East Lansing there was only a .14 percent drop and in Meridian Township the fall was just 2.7 percent.” The expiration of the federal first-time home-buyer credit did not impact local home sale prices as sharply as Lee expected. “The sales of the homes in the two areas (East Lansing and Meridian Township) were not as soft as I had anticipated,” said Lee who took over the assessing departments for both the city and the township last year — a first for both municipalities. However, a substantial drop did occur for residential properties — 7.7 percent — in the Clinton County portion of East Lansing. Last week, the board of review convened in both East Lansing and Meridian Township, and the crowds were a little larger than normal, said Lee, a former employee for the State Tax Commission and for state board that monitors local assessors. The boards listen to appeals and complaints from property owners and have the power to adjust property values.
The assessing department kept track of hundreds of home sales that occurred over the course of a year, from Oct. 1, 2009 to Sept. 30, 2010. The home sales are grouped into small geographi areas. For example, there are 23 groupings alone in the Ingam County of East Lansing. “We don’t use foreclosures or short sales. We only use those sales between a typical buyer and a typical seller,” he said. In previous years, assessors could study sales over a two-year period to arrive at values, but the rules were changed to allow just one year studies, in part because of the devastating fall in residential values in Michigan. The sales are studied to determine the assessed value, or market value. There is also the taxable value, the number used to determine how much tax property owners pay to local governments. Overall, there was a 3 percent loss in taxable value in East Lansing and a 2 percent loss in Meridian Township. Most of that loss is caused by the plummet in commercial property values. Lee said there was a 5.6 percent loss in commercial values in Meridian Township, a 5 percent loss of the Ingham County portion of East Lansing, and 7 percent lost in commercial values in the Clinton County portion of East Lansing. This means lower revenues for both the city and the township. The exact reduction will not be known for a few weeks.
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By KURT MADDEN
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