Tax & Assessing

2023 WINTER TAXES

Beginning December 1st, 2023, winter taxes will be issued.  The City of Garden City will accept payments through February 14^th, 2024, without penalty or interest.

Taxes may be paid at City Hall, by cash or check.  Our drop box (Located on the North side of the building) is available for any non-cash payments.  Credit/Debit cards are also accepted with an additional charge at City Hall or online (www.gardencitymi.org).

All mail must be postmarked no later than February 14, 2024, to avoid penalty. 

On February 15th, 2024, a penalty of 3% will be added.  

Partial payments are accepted, however any balance remaining after the initial due date of February 14^th, 2024, will be assessed all applicable penalty and interest.

Beginning March 1, 2024, all unpaid 2023 Real Property taxes must be paid to the Wayne County Treasurer with additional penalty and interest.

Personal Property and Real Property are assessed as of Tax Day, December 31, 2022.

2023 SUMMER TAXES

Beginning July 1, 2023, summer taxes will be issued.  The City of Garden City will accept payments through August 31, 2023, without penalty or interest.

Taxes may be paid at City Hall, by cash or check.  Our drop box (Located on the North side of the building) is available for any non-cash payments.  Credit/Debit cards are also accepted with an additional charge at City Hall or online (www.gardencitymi.org).

All mail must be postmarked no later than August 31, 2023, to avoid penalty.

On September 1, 2023, a penalty and interest of 4 1/2 % will be added.  Each month thereafter, an additional 1/2 % interest will be added.

Partial payments are accepted, however any balance remaining after the initial due date of August 31, 2023, will be assessed all applicable penalty and interest.

Beginning March 1, 2024, all unpaid 2023 Real Property taxes must be paid to the Wayne County Treasurer with additional penalty and interest.

Personal Property and Real Property are assessed as of Tax Day, December 31, 2022.

 SUMMER TAX DEFERMENTS

A deferral (delay) of the payment of SUMMER TAXES until February 14th is available on the Homestead of property owners who meet the following qualifications:

• Age 62 or older (and eligible surviving spouse) OR
• Hemiplegic, Paraplegic or Quadriplegic or Blind OR
• Totally and Permanently Disabled (Bring 1040A, Schedule 3 or 1040, Schedule R) OR
• Eligible Service person/Veteran (and surviving spouse)

AND
 

• Household income (including Social Security/Pension, etc.) does not exceed $40,000.

To obtain a deferment, an application must be filed EACH YEAR by    September 15, 2022, with the Treasury department.  Please bring the following documents:
 

• Your 2022 MI Homestead Property Tax Credit (Form MI-1040-CR must be filed)
• Your Medicare or VA card
• Your 2023 Summer Tax Bill

July Board of Review

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN TO all property owners of the City of Garden City that the Board of Review will meet in session on Tuesday, July 18, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p. m. to correct mutual mistakes of fact or clerical errors.  Pa74 OF 1995 authorizes the July Board of Review to hear appeals for poverty exemptions, but not for poverty exemptions denied by the March of Review.  This applies to current year only.

Explanation of Taxable Value Uncapping

What is meant by “taxable value uncapping”?
Except for additions and losses to a property, annual increases in the property’s taxable value are limited to 5% or the inflation rate, whichever is less for continuous owners. In the year following a statutory transfer of ownership, that limitation is eliminated and the property’s taxable value is set at 50% of the property’s true cash value (i.e., the state equalized value). This is what is meant by “taxable value uncapping”. See Michigan Compiled Laws (MCL) 211.27a(3).

Note: A property’s true cash value is usually not the same as its sale price for a variety of reasons. An assessor must determine the true cash value of a property which has sold in the same manner that the assessor determines the true cash values of properties which have not sold. Therefore, an assessor may not automatically set an assessed value or a taxable value at half of a property’s selling price. See State Tax Commission Bulletin No. 19 of 1997 and State Tax Commission Memorandum dated October 25, 2005 that describes the illegal and unconstitutional practice of “following sales.”

How do I know if I “uncapped”?

What does this mean for you?
In the calendar year after you purchase your property, your taxes will no longer be based on the previous owner’s capped taxable value. The taxable value in your second calendar year of ownership will only increase by the rate of inflation or 5%, whichever is less, unless additions or losses to the property occur, because it is now capped.

Your taxable value may now be different than your neighbors. Their taxable value may have been capped many years before yours, so it would have no correlation with the current market and is not comparable. The Assessed Value is the factor to be used when comparing properties for current value in the market. 

2022 REAL PROPERTY TAXES

Beginning March 1, 2023, all unpaid 2022 Real Property taxes must be paid to the Wayne County Treasurer with additional penalty and interest.  Garden City can no longer accept 2022 Real property tax payments.