Shelby Township supports state ballot proposal 1 to repeal personal property tax

Shelby Township voters stood with voters across the state Aug. 5 as they showed support for the Shelby Township Board of Trustees’ economic development policies.

Sixty-four percent of the voters in Shelby Township who cast a vote on proposal No. 1, also known as the Michigan Use Tax and Community Stabilization Share, stood in favor of a plan to repeal the state’s personal property tax. It was a clear sign that voters support the Board of Trustees’ policy of offering tax relief as a means of promoting business growth.

“I have always held firm to the belief that government should not create jobs by expanding the public sector, but it does need to support the growth of the private sector in any way possible,” Shelby Township Supervisor Rick Stathakis said. “This is why I have always supported sound, well-planned business within the Township by granting tax relief when it was appropriate.

“I was very happy to see that, not only were the voters across the state overwhelmingly in favor of this with their support of proposal 1, but our residents and voters here in Shelby Township stood tall with our Board and agreed as well.”

Most recently the Board of Trustees awarded a tax abatement for the Paslin Company July 15 to bring in 180 new jobs at a new 166,000-square-foot facility located just north of a 100,000-square-foot JVIS-USA facility, which was also made possible through a tax abatement and is currently under construction at Cherry Creek Corporate Park.

“Having experienced the historical economic downturn we just went through, it is exceedingly clear how important it is for business and government to work together,” said Eugene D’Agostini, who owns Cherry Creek Corporate Park. “The economic vitality of Shelby Township or any community is directly related to jobs and the businesses that create them.”

Proposal 1 phases out personal property taxes that businesses pay on office equipment and manufacturers pay on industrial equipment while it also permits the formation of a system to distribute existing use tax revenue to local governments to replace revenues lost from personal property tax collections that will no longer be going into local coffers.

“The fact that this gives local governments a plan for some assurances of revenue while doing away with the unfair personal property tax is a win-win,” Stathakis said. “It provides businesses a better environment in Michigan to grow and prosper, and it protects local services like fire, police and EMS.”

Shelby Township’s support of the proposal was ahead of Macomb County’s overall support by 2 percentage points, and the Township’s support for the measure was also ahead of its neighbors Clinton Township and Sterling Heights by 1 and 6 percentage points, respectively.

“We have a lot of very exciting economic development projects and new businesses coming to Shelby Township, and a lot of that is in manufacturing,” Stathakis said. “We know first hand in Shelby Township of the way tax relief promotes business growth, so I am very excited to see this concept expanded statewide.” apt a���o23@