MCL 211.34 — Determination of county equalized value; conducting business at public meeting; notice of meeting; advising local taxing units of increased equalized value; reduction of maximum authorized millage rate; examination of assessment rolls to ascertain equal and uniform assessment of real and personal property; equalization procedure; establishment of department to survey assessments and assist board of commissioners; appeal to state tax tribunal; authority of agent to file and sign petition for appeal

(1) The county board of commissioners in each county shall meet in April each year to determine county equalized value which equalization shall be completed and submitted along with the tabular statement required by section 5 of Act No. 44 of the Public Acts of 1911, being section 209.5 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, to the state tax commission before the first Monday in May. The business which the board may perform shall be conducted at a public meeting of the board held in compliance with the open meetings act, Act No. 267 of the Public Acts of 1976, as amended, being sections 15.261 to 15.275 of the Michigan Compiled Laws. Public notice of the time, date, and place of the meeting shall be given in the manner required by Act No. 267 of the Public Acts of 1976, as amended. Each year the county board of commissioners shall advise the local taxing units when the state tax commission increases the equalized value of the county as established by the board of county commissioners and each taxing unit other than a city, township, school district, intermediate school district, or community college district, shall immediately reduce its maximum authorized millage rate, as determined after any reduction caused by section 34d, so that subsequent to the increase ordered by the state tax commission pursuant to Act No. 44 of the Public Acts of 1911, as amended, being sections 209.1 to 209.8 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, total property taxes levied for that unit shall not exceed that which would have been levied for that unit at its maximum authorized millage rate, as determined after any reduction caused by section 34d, if there had not been an increase in valuation by the state. If its state equalized valuation exceeds its assessed valuation by 5.0% or more in 1982 or by any amount in 1983 or any year thereafter, a city or township shall reduce its maximum authorized millage rate, as determined after any reduction caused by section 34d, so that total property taxes levied for that unit do not exceed that which would have been levied based on its assessed valuation.
(2) The county board of commissioners shall examine the assessment rolls of the townships or cities and ascertain whether the real and personal property in the respective townships or cities has been equally and uniformly assessed at true cash value. If, on the examination, the county board of commissioners considers the assessments to be relatively unequal, it shall equalize the assessments by adding to or deducting from the valuation of the taxable property in a township or city an amount which in the judgment of the county board of commissioners will produce a sum which represents the true cash value of that property, and the amount added to or deducted from the valuations in a township or city shall be entered upon the records. The county board of commissioners and the state tax commission shall equalize real and personal property separately by adding to or deducting from the valuation of taxable real property, and by adding to or deducting from the valuation of taxable personal property in a township, city, or county, an amount which will produce a sum which represents the proportion of true cash value established by the legislature. Beginning December 31, 1980, the county board of commissioners and the state tax commission shall equalize separately the following classes of real property by adding to or deducting from the valuation of agricultural, developmental, residential, commercial, industrial, and timber cutover taxable real property, and by adding to or deducting from the valuation of taxable personal property in a township, city, or county, an amount as will produce a sum which represents the proportion of true cash value established by the legislature. The tax roll and the tax statement shall clearly set forth the latest state equalized valuation for each item or property which shall be determined by using a separate factor for personal property and a separate factor for real property as equalized. Beginning December 31, 1980, the tax roll and the tax statement shall clearly set forth the latest state equalized valuation for each item or property which shall be determined by using a separate factor for personal property and a separate factor for each classification for real property as equalized. Factors used in determining the state equalized valuation for real and personal property on the tax roll shall be rounded up to not less than 4 decimal places. Equalized values for both real and personal property shall be equalized uniformly at the same proportion of true cash value in the county. The county board of commissioners shall also cause to be entered upon its records the aggregate valuation of the taxable real and personal property of each township or city in its county as determined by the county board. The county board of commissioners shall also make alterations in the description of any land on the rolls as is necessary to render the descriptions conformable to the requirements of this act. After the rolls are equalized, each shall be certified to by the chairperson and the clerk of the board and be delivered to the supervisor of the proper township or city, who shall file and keep the roll in his or her office.
(3) The county board of commissioners of a county shall establish and maintain a department to survey assessments and assist the board of commissioners in the matter of equalization of assessments, and may employ in that department technical and clerical personnel which in its judgment are considered necessary. The personnel of the department shall be under the direct supervision and control of a director of the tax or equalization department who may designate an employee of the department as his or her deputy. The director of the county tax or equalization department shall be appointed by the county board of commissioners. The county board of commissioners, through the department, may furnish assistance to local assessing officers in the performance of duties imposed upon those officers by this act, including the development and maintenance of accurate property descriptions, the discovery, listing, and valuation of properties for tax purposes, and the development and use of uniform valuation standards and techniques for the assessment of property.
(4) The supervisor of a township or, with the approval of the governing body, the certified assessor of a township or city, or the intermediate district board of education, or the board of education of an incorporated city or village aggrieved by the action of the county board of commissioners, in equalizing the valuations of the townships or cities of the county, may appeal from the determination to the state tax tribunal in the manner provided by law. An appeal from the determination by the county board of commissioners shall be filed with the clerk of the tribunal by a written or printed petition which shall set forth in detail the reasons for taking the appeal. The petition shall be signed and sworn to by the supervisor, the certified assessor, or a majority of the members of the board of education taking the appeal, shall show that a certain township, city, or school district has been discriminated against in the equalization, and shall pray that the state tax tribunal proceed at its earliest convenience to review the action from which the appeal is taken. The state tax tribunal shall, upon hearing, determine if in its judgment there is a showing that the equalization complained of is unfair, unjust, inequitable, or discriminatory. The state tax tribunal shall have the same authority to consider and pass upon the action and determination of the county board of commissioners in equalizing valuations as it has to consider complaints relative to the assessment and taxation of property. The state tax tribunal may order the county board of commissioners to reconvene and to cause the assessment rolls of the county to be brought before it, may summon the commissioners of the county to give evidence in relation to the equalization, and may take further action and may make further investigation in the premises as it considers necessary. The state tax tribunal shall fix a valuation on all property of the county. If the state tax tribunal decides that the determination and equalization made by the county board of commissioners is correct, further action shall not be taken. If the state tax tribunal, after the hearing, decides that the valuations of the county were improperly equalized, it shall proceed to make deductions from, or additions to, the valuations of the respective townships, cities, or school districts as may be considered proper, and in so doing the tribunal shall have the same powers as the county board of commissioners had in the first instance. The deductions or additions shall decrease or increase the state equalized valuation of the local unit affected but shall not increase or decrease the total state equalized valuation of the county in the case of an appeal under this section to the state tax tribunal. If the tax tribunal finds that the valuations of a class of property in a county were improperly equalized by that county and determines that the total value of that class of property in the county may not be at the level required by law, prior to entry of a final order, the tax tribunal shall forward its findings and determination to the state tax commission. Within 90 days after receiving the findings and determination of the tax tribunal, the state tax commission shall determine whether the state equalized valuation of that class of property in the county was set at the level prescribed by law or should be revised to provide uniformity among the counties and shall enter an order consistent with the state tax commission's findings. The tax tribunal shall enter a final order based upon the revised state equalized valuation, if any, which is adopted by the state tax commission. The state tax tribunal immediately after completing its revision of the equalization of the valuation of the several assessment districts shall report its action to the county board of commissioners and board of education if the board has instituted the appeal by filing its report with the clerk of the county board of commissioners. The action of the state tax tribunal in the premises shall constitute the equalization of the county for the tax year.
(5) For purposes of appeals pursuant to subsection (4) in 1981 only, an agent of a supervisor, including an assessor, shall be considered to have the authority to file and sign a petition for an appeal, and any otherwise timely submitted petition in 1981 by an agent of a supervisor shall be reviewed by the tribunal as if submitted by the supervisor.