Next Wednesday the House Tax Policy Committee is considering two pieces of legislation that would require assessors to get written permission to enter structures in order to assess them.

House Bill 5172 requires written consent for an assessor to enter a structure, and if that consent is denied the assessor cannot increase the value of the property based on any assumptions.

House Bill 5173 states that the assessor’s procedural manual may not require a homeowner to grant an assessor access to a property nor may an assessor access a property without written permission.

Obviously this legislation would significantly hamstring the ability of our assessors to do their jobs. The legislation will receive a hearing on Wednesday, January 22 at 9 a.m. Please contact your legislators and ask them to vote no on this legislation.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org