Tax and Assessing

Tax Overview

The Tax Department is responsible for collecting all current real and personal property taxes for the City of Northville as well as delinquent personal property. The Tax Department will assist persons requesting tax information for real and/or personal property. Information on a parcel could be in regards to legal descriptions, property and mailing addresses, name of taxpayer, assessed and taxable value, homestead status, escrow agents, summer tax deferment and current tax payment status. Applications are available through the Treasurer's Office for summer tax deferment. (To view "Application For Deferment of Summer Taxes" click here.)

After 1994, a taxable value was determined for each property in addition to the State Equalized Value (SEV).  Taxable value is the lower of either capped value or SEV. Capped values that are increased are limited to the lesser of 5% or the rate of inflation over the previous year's taxable value. Although SEV is still based on market conditions, taxable value is in place to control property taxes.

Assessing Overview

The Assessing Department keeps records on all properties including land and buildings. The "traditional" assessed value is still required by law to be established at 50% of true cash value. The State Constitution still requires the assessed value to be uniform with the assessments of other similar properties.

According to the Michigan Supreme Court, a Board of Review may not make wholesale or across the board adjustments to assessments. A Board of Review must consider each parcel and act upon it individually. A Board of Review did not have and does not now have the authority to make changes to alter, evade or defeat an equalization factor assigned by the county or the state.

Neither Proposal A nor its implementing language authorized assessors or boards of review to "follow sales" when determining the assessed value of properties. "Following sales" is described in the assessor's manual as the practice of ignoring the assessment of properties which have not recently been sold while making significant changes to the assessments of properties which have been sold. The practice of "following sales" is a serious violation of the law.

For more detailed information on understanding Proposal A and value calculations,  please click here.

Assessor’s Office Accessibility Policy pursuant to PA 660 of 2018:

The Assessing Department business hours are Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm, with the exception of observed holidays. The Assessor’s office hours are Wednesdays during normal business hours.

A taxpayer may submit inquiries directly to Assessor Ben Griffin by email at [email protected], or by phone at (248) 305-2704. The estimated response time to inquiries is 7 or less business days. 

A taxpayer may arrange a meeting with an Assessing Department employee for the purpose of discussing an inquiry in-person by calling the Assessing/Tax Department main line (248) 449-9901 or by emailing [email protected].

Taxpayer requests for inspection or production of records maintained by the Assessing Department may be made by calling (248) 449-9901. A staff member will be assigned the request; a Freedom of Information Act request may be required.

Ben Griffin, MMAO, MCPPE, Assessor