MARQUETTE -- Our Facebook viewers wanted to know more about property taxes. All homeowners pay them, but where does that money go? There's no easy answer. The money that counties receive from taxes funds many things, but it all goes toward important city and county services.
Twice a year, homeowners pay their property taxes. They fund a variety of important services, but those services vary with location and so do your taxes. Cities unmistakeably have higher tax rates than neighboring townships, but they also offer more public services.
"You've got fire and police protection, you've got parks and rec...a lot of different services. A lot of times you have a library in a city, whereas in a township, you may not have a library," says Anne Giroux, Marquette County Treasurer.
Public services could not function properly without residents that pay their property taxes. There are some common misconceptions about what property taxes pay for. Not every county service is provided by money from property taxes.
Megan Pope commented on our Facebook page, "I live in Ishpeming, which has the highest property taxes in Marquette County, and by the sad state of the city's roads, it obviously doesn't go towards maintaining/fixing any of them!"
"One of the biggest misperceptions, though, has to do with road funding. A lot of people just assume that the county road commission is funded by property taxes, and it is not. Any of the money that comes in for snow removal, the plows that are plowing the roads in the winter, that's funded by what people pay through gas tax," Giroux adds.
Some residences have to pay higher taxes than others. That's determined by city assessors.
"We determine how many stories it is, if it has a basement or a crawl space, or if it's just on a slab, and one of the most important things is class of construction," says Susan Bovan, assessor for the city of Marquette.
You can raise the value of your home by adding more square feet, like a porch or deck outside. You can also focus on an extra bathroom or bedroom inside. These will raise your taxes upon a home assessment but can also greatly increase its resale value if you move.
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