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Gee, what a surprise… A wealthy Democrat in a position of power is taking advantage of the system and tries to claim ignorance when she’s caught.
Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson paid only $68 in property taxes this year because city records say her well-kept, brick Tudor-style home doesn’t exist. Although the home has occupied its west-side plot since 1926, city records have classified the parcel as an empty lot for the past decade.
Watson said she was unaware of the discrepancy until the Free Press contacted her. She said the change came before she was elected to City Council — and without her involvement.
“I pay the taxes. All I know is I had a big drop when my house got hit hard by a tornado,” she said. “We had great damage.”
Watson said she could not recall the specific date the tornado hit, saying it might have been 2002, or perhaps 1993.
She acknowledged, however, that she never reported the incident. National Weather Service meteorologists said the last tornadoes to hit Detroit occurred in 1996 and 1997 — before Watson says her taxes were reduced because of what she called “the natural disaster.”
Watson, who said she receives her property tax bill separate from her mortgage bill, said she never questioned why her taxes dropped — or why they didn’t increase after she repaired her home.
“If it’s an amount that’s been determined by the people who are in the business of assessing … and you pay that, then what’s the issue?” she asked.
Watson’s neighbors in comparable homes pay $2,000 to $6,500 in taxes. “My house has always been there,” she said.
On Friday morning, Watson entered the city tax assessor’s office and asked for a review of her tax bill.
Neighbor: ‘Wow! I’m shocked’
Since joining the City Council six years ago, insisting that Detroit get its fair share has been one of Watson’s signature issues.
On Sept. 29, for example, Watson was the only council member to vote against a tax break for General Motors Corp. in return for building the Chevrolet Volt at its Poletown assembly plant.
As recently as Tuesday, Watson blasted state officials who she said have cut $130 million from the city’s portion of revenue sharing over the years. “They owe us,” she said during a City Council meeting, demanding that the state pay the money to help Detroit through its financial crisis and reduce its deficit.
Watson’s failure to realize she was paying significantly less than she should is noteworthy because she occasionally admonishes city officials for not being more diligent in collecting outstanding property taxes. She says the city needs that money to reduce its deficit, which recent estimates put at close to $300 million.
Watson, who is paid $81,000 a year and gets a city-owned Ford Crown Victoria, said her taxes are paid in full. She said it never occurred to her that her tax bill was a fraction of what it should have been.
“I am paying what the assessor assessed,” Watson said, expressing dismay when the Free Press informed her Thursday of the discrepancy.
She blamed the error on a tornado that she said struck her home several years ago. Just when is not exactly clear. She has guessed that it hit as recently as 2002 or as long ago as 1993. The National Weather Service says the last tornadoes to hit Detroit came in 1996 and 1997.
Watson bought the home on a land contract in 1990. She agreed to pay $40,000. A year earlier, city assessors pegged the home’s value at about $37,000.
Currently, assessors calculate the property’s value at $1,658 because they consider it a vacant lot.
Watson said she noticed the drop in her property tax bill, which she handles herself, but assumed it was because the tornado left a hole in her roof and damaged the home’s foundation.
How assessors would have known that is unclear.
Linda Bade, the city’s chief assessor, did not return messages Friday.
Watson said she did not call city officials or file an insurance claim. She also said she did not seek a reduction in her property taxes. Watson said that when the lower bill arrived, she simply paid it and did not ask any questions.
“I came to the natural conclusion my house isn’t worth much any more,” she said. “This assessment dropped because of something that had nothing to do with me.”
Watson, who was elected to the City Council in 2003, said she was not a city official at the time the taxes dropped.
She said she did not rejoice in the tax break.
“In fact, I was kind of insulted,” she said, adding that she feared the value of her home had plummeted.
However, in 2002, as she prepared to run for City Council, Watson obtained a $60,000 mortgage.
To obtain the loan, Watson acknowledged that her property was appraised. But she said that appraisal did not prompt her to think that her home had regained value and, consequently, would merit an increase in her property tax bill.
She said she assumed the appraisers “used their financial wizardry” to help her get the loan on her home.
When Free Press reporters questioned Watson about her property taxes, she said she would go to the assessor’s office Tuesday and say: “Are you aware you’re charging me for a lot and I live in a house?”
If correcting the error generates a bill for back taxes, Watson said she will be “happy to pay it. I pay my bills.”
Watson instead went to the assessor’s office Friday morning, arriving just after 9.
A clerk confirmed that the property was listed as vacant.
The councilwoman said, no, there was a home on the lot, and told her about the tornado.
Watson asked how soon her property could be reassessed.
“I don’t want special treatment,” she said. “I want someone to look at it.”
The exchange was completed in about 10 minutes. The clerk reviewed her 2002 mortgage. And she gave Watson a form to request an assessment.
“I’ll bring it back,” Watson said, smiling.
One of Watson’s neighbors, informed Friday of Watson’s tax bill, was incredulous.
“Wow! I’m shocked,” Natalie Solomon told the Free Press.
Solomon, who lives across the street from Watson, said, “I know my property taxes.
“That’s not fair.”
$68 that sounds about right.