There are approximately 3,000 utility personal property appeals pending in the Tribunal. These appeals were the result of the Michigan State Tax Commission's revision effective for the 2000 tax year of the depreciation multipliers utilized to determine the true cash value of utility personal property. The substantial majority of these appeals were placed in abeyance pending the resolution of the appeal filed by Wayne County and other local units of government contesting the adoption of the new multipliers (i.e., Wayne County v Michigan State Tax Commission, MTT Docket No. 273674 ). On January 30, 2004, the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the Tribunal's decision in an unpublished per curiam opinion (i.e., Wayne County v Michigan State Tax Commission, COA Docket No. 240911). The parties did not appeal that decision to the Michigan Supreme Court and the appeals were automatically removed from abeyance. As a result of their automatic removal, the Tribunal began conducting status conferences to schedule these appeals for hearing.
Recently, Detroit Edison, the Michigan Consolidated Gas Company, the Department of Treasury, and governmental representatives from Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Kent counties agreed to the terms of a global settlement whereby taxing jurisdictions could avoid paying refunds. The settlement was presented to and approved by the Tribunal. The implementation of the settlement was conditioned on the execution of stipulations by a specified number of jurisdictions. That numerical requirement has been met and stipulations are being filed with the Tribunal. In-person status conferences are in the process of being scheduled to discuss the conducting of hearings for those jurisdictions that have not executed stipulations.
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