Traverse City Record-Eagle

East Bay

April 17, 2008

Centre ICE to appeal tax tribunal decision

The facility seeks refund of $353K tax payment

By Brian McGillivary

TRAVERSE CITY -- Centre ICE paid its overdue, disputed $353,000 tax bill, but decided it will ask the Michigan Court of Appeals for a refund.

Centre ICE paid no property taxes since the East Bay Township skating complex opened in 1997, but in September the Michigan Tax Tribunal ruled the privately owned facility in Grand Traverse County was not tax exempt.

Last week, ICE appealed after the tribunal finalized a decision in a case that dragged for over three years.

"We think the tax tribunal judge was incorrect in her decision," said ICE attorney Tom Pezzetti. "We think we provide a very valuable service to the community and should be tax exempt,"

The nonprofit Involved Citizens Enterprises Inc., which owns and operates Centre ICE, maintains the property should be tax exempt as a charitable and educational organization.

Township and county assessors, however, said the rink did not meet exemption criteria under state tax law and in 2004 put the property on the tax rolls and assessed it at over $4 million.

ICE representatives were faced with an annual tax bill of more than $180,000 and waged a blistering public campaign aimed at county and township officials.

County officials bowed to pressure, supported the ICE campaign and threatened to fire the county equalization director if she continued her push to put the ice rink on the tax rolls.

The tempest eventually ebbed, helped by time and appraisals that showed the $4 million assessment was over-inflated.

East Bay and ICE later agreed to split the difference between their two appraisals and settled on a 2004 assessed value of $1.45 million, resulting in an annual tax bill of about $65,000 a year.

ICE paid four years of taxes, interest and penalties at the end of December.

Pezzetti said ICE is financially viable and the taxes no longer "threaten their existence."

If successful at appealing the tax tribunal decision, ICE would be refunded its tax payment and exempt from future property taxes.

The tribunal ruled ICE is an umbrella organization created for recreational purposes and its "overall nature is not one of a charitable institution."

Pezzetti said the judge's decision set an unobtainable standard.

"If you take her opinion to its logical conclusion, you can't have any tax exempt property in Michigan," Pezzetti said.

The legal battle has cost East Bay Township taxpayers over $30,500.

The township gets one of the smallest slices of the property tax pie, but has to foot the whole legal bill.

"If you just looked at how much it costs, compared to what we bring in, you wouldn't go to the tax tribunal against anybody," said Trustee Beth Friend. "But then nobody would pay their taxes."

Text Only