Brandon Twp.- Several hundred township homeowners could be at the center of some significant changes as Michigan lawmakers grapple with manufactured home issues in the coming months.
About 1,000 residents in both Sashabaw Meadows and Clarkston Lakes manufactured home communities along with Groveland Manor in Groveland Township are at the center of the debate over property values, taxes and equality during the 2005 session.
Mobile homes are an old topic in the legislature, says Sen.Valde Garcia, R-Howell who has been spearheading legislation to hike property taxes on manufactured housing for quite some time. The current legislation taxes all manufactured housing units $3 per month for a total of $36 per year and was established in 1959.
Garcia said the closest lawmakers had come to passing a new bill on manufactured housing property taxes was in December, when the house passed H.B. 4880 which would have gradually increased taxes on manufactured housing units beginning this year with a tax of $4.50 per month and ending in 2010, when taxes would thereafter be $12 per month. The Senate passed the bill with some amendments, differentiating between the tax for single-section and multi-section manufactured homes and sent it back to the house, where the bill failed to pass.
‘It’s pretty clear to me there is not support for this in our legislature,? Garcia said. ‘So I’m really not sure if I should bang my head against the wall for this one more time. It’s an all or nothing proposition. There’s little room for compromise so we’re at an impasse.?
Garcia asserts that the current taxation system is not fair, with owners of stick-built homes paying a much higher rate of tax on their property. He acknowledges that owners of manufactured homes do pay taxes that stick-built homes do not, but said it is still not fair.
Garcia said he didn’t think H.B. 4880 went far enough, but he would be willing to reintroduce a bill he sponsored that failed’Senate Bill 486. His proposal would be phased in over seven years beginning in 2007 and would tax manufactured home owners on 40 percent of the state equalized value of their residence.
But he said the manufactured housing industry doesn’t want it and David Waymire, spokesman for the Michigan Manufactured Housing Association, agrees.
Waymire said that if legislators really want an equal tax system, they need to eliminate the sales tax on manufactured housing and get rid of the 24 mills commercial tax that park owners pay and pass along to the residents through lot rent. Owners of stick-built homes pay only 6 mills in comparison.
Waymire asserts that in reforming the system, the number of taxes that manufactured home owners pay that site-built owners don’t pay needs to be taken into consideration.
‘Local government officials want to keep the sales tax on manufactured homes,? Waymire said. They want to force owners of those home to pay 24 mills, not the 6 mills that site-built homeowners pay. On top of those taxes they want a value-based tax placed on the home. That is simply unjust and unacceptable? not only to manufactured home owners and associations, but lawmakers also believe it is unfair and that’s why it was voted down.?
Waymire believes the real issue is not that owners of manufactured homes are paying $3 per month in property taxes, but that the state is having an affordable housing crisis.
When figuring in the sales tax and additional mills, Waymire said that manufactured home residents generally pay about the same as a similarly priced site-built home? although he said the average price of a used manufactured home is $20,000.
‘Do you know of any site-built homes worth $20,000?? Waymire asked. ‘The bottom line is, should families making $30,000 or $40,000 per year be forced to live in the inner city or substandard housing??
He said manufactured homes are the only source of private affordable housing in Michigan, and are especially needed with budget cuts to public housing.
Garcia said he and other legislators are sensitive to the income levels of manufactured home owners.
‘We’re not cold-blooded people who don’t understand the realities of life for senior citizens or people on a fixed income,? he said. ‘But everyone should pay their fair share of taxes.?
Rep. Dave Robertson, R-Grand Blanc, said that taxation issues are the most difficult to get bills passed on. He does not believe there are 56 votes in the House with which to pass a manufactured home tax bill. His intention is to introduce legislation on a variety of topics dealing with mobile homes which he believes can be accomplished. One of those topics includes the Manufactured Housing Commission.
Last fall, Attorney General Mike Cox issued an opinion that the commission was not a licensing body meaning, said Robertson, that the commission did not need to have a majority of its member come from within the mobile home industry.
Robertson wants to see more of an equal balance of industry members and the general public on the commission, with school district and safety representatives (such as a police or fire chiefs) and members of the local government.
‘The addition of these individuals along with public members is the best way to provide balance on the commission,? said Robertson, who wants to give local governments more control in placement of mobile home communities. ‘My concern is that the commission should favor the general public not the industry. The community is required to have in their master plan zoning for residential classification, but that does not mean mobile home parks specifically. Within the definition of affordable housing, there are a number of ways you can satisfy that.?
Waymire said the commission currently consists of 11 individuals’a local goverment elected official; a member of a financial institution; a member of a labor organization; a resident of a manufactured home community with 100 or more sites; a resident of a community with less than 100 sites; a representative of a manufactured home residence association; two licensed manufactured home community operators having 100 or more sites; a licensed manufactured home operator having less than 100 sites; a manufactured home manufacturer; and a manufactured home retailer. Of those, he believes only the last 5 can be considered industry insiders.
‘What this is really all about is that people who build half-a-million dollar homes don’t want poor people living next to them,? Waymire said. ‘It’s a lot of ‘not in my backyard.? A lot of times people will do whatever they can to keep a manufactured home community from being built in their township. If they do that, they’re going to lose. We need affordable housing in every community in this state.?
According to www.michiganhomeandloan.com, the average Michigan home price is $152,710. Waymire estimates that Oakland County’s average home price is even higher.
‘What does that mean if you’re a young teacher, firefighter or a soldier coming back from Iraq?? Waymire asked. ‘The only form of affordable, private sector housing is manufactured housing.?
Robertson believes residents of Goodrich and Brandon Township want this legislation in order to have power over where manufactured home parks are placed in their respective communities and he plans to reintroduce legislation in the next 60 days.
‘We can accomplish this,? he said.