Marquette County claims Cleveland Cliffs owes $50M in taxes after Empire Mine idle

MARQUETTE COUNTY, Mich. (WLUC) - Marquette County said Cleveland Cliffs owes $50 million in delinquent real and personal property tax to local communities.

The dispute goes back to 2016 when Cliffs idled activity at its Empire Mine.

Marquette County Board Chair Joe Derocha said the county has been in litigation with Cleveland Cliffs since 2018.

“To date, we’ve spent, at Marquette County with Richmond Township, Tilden Township and Negaunee City, we’re now at a $1 million of litigation fees,” Derocha said. “I am no longer interested in spending other people’s tax money to litigate this issue.”

Cleveland Cliffs has argued that the ore at Empire can’t be mined, so it values the mine only for its surface and land. That excluded mineral reserves and personal property, reducing its taxes owed.

However, the Michigan State Tax Commission said Cliffs owes a total of $2.9 million in personal property taxes to Richmond and Tilden townships.

Richmond Township Supervisor Scott Mills said the missing money has been devastating.

“Since Cliffs stopped paying their taxes, we’ve had to do away with our ambulance service,” Mills said. “We’ve done away with our township garbage pickup and we’ve had to subcontract that out. Now, everybody has to pay for their garbage. That used to be included.”

Derocha said the county has gotten Cleveland Cliffs’ attention.

“The CEO, Mr. Goncalves, called the county and requested that we go down and meet him,” Derocha said. “So, this morning we’re getting our negotiating team, Stephen Adamini and myself, are getting on a plane. We’re going down to meet the CEO and see if there can be some resolution.”

Derocha added a legislative fix may be needed.

TV6 will provide updates when more information becomes available.