BILLS & PAYMENTS INFORMATION

Office Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00 am – 12:00 pm & 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm.

There is a mail drop box available 24 hrs a day for your convenience.

It is located outside the front doors of the Township Office.

PLEASE WRITE SEPARATE CHECKS FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF BILLS! IF POSSIBLE, PLEASE DO NOT STAPLE CHECKS.

Taxes

Taxes are divided into 2 tax bills per year. They are mailed out for you to receive them by July 1st and December 1st of each year. If you do not receive a tax bill by the middle of July and/or December, please call our office at (231) 223-4484 so that we can make sure you get one.

Both the Summer and Winter tax bills are for calendar year that they are billed (i.e. Summer and Winter 2008 tax bills are for January December of 2008). The taxes are figured from the taxable value for that calendar year.

Taxes are payable to: Peninsula Township Treasurer (Peninsula Township is fine too). The Summer Taxes are due from July 1st through September 14th each year, and the Winter Taxes are due from December 1st through February 14th of each year. If the 14th falls on a non-business day, then the due date will be the first business day after.

If you have an escrow account paying your taxes, we will still send the original bill to you. Please check your bill to make sure that there is a code following the words "Mortgage Code". If there is, then your information was sent to a mortgage company. If there is not a code, but there should be, please call us to verify that there is no code. You will need to call your mortgage company to make sure that they have the information if we do not show one for you. It is the mortgage company’s responsibility to contact us for your tax amount.

We take tax payments of any amount. If you have questions about making payments, please call us. We can take payments on Summer Taxes starting in July & Winter Taxes starting in December.

After September 14th there is 1% interest added to any Summer Tax amount still due, with 1 % being added the first day of every month thereafter (starting in October). Any amount (Summer or Winter) owing after February 14th will have a 3% late fee added.

As of March 1st of each year, all taxes owing for the previous year become delinquent, and they are turned over to the Grand Traverse County Treasurer. Delinquent taxes are payable to: Grand Traverse County Treasurer (GT Co Treasurer is fine too) at 400 Boardman Ave., Traverse City, Ml 49684. Their phone number is (231) 922-4735.

Special Assessments

The Special Assessment bills are sent out on July 1st each year to those people in the Special Assessment District. If you do not receive one by the end of July, please call us so that we can get you one. They are always due by September 14th. After September 14th, there is a 1% penalty applied each month to the amount still owing for that year. If there is any amount owing for that year as of November, that portion (including penalties) will be added on your winter tax bill for that property. Special Assessments can be paid off at any time. For payoff information, please call our office. The payoff amount will vary each month. The Township does not require Special Assessments to be paid off if a property is sold. New owners can assume the assessment. Check with your title company or lending institution to see if they will require you to pay it off at closing.

Tax Deferments

Summer Tax deferments are available if your income is less that $40,000 a year and you meet any of the following:

• 62 or older
• Paraplegic, quadriplegic
• Eligible serviceperson, eligible veteran, eligible widow or widower
• Blind
• Totally or permanently disabled
• If your property is classified or used for agriculture and your gross receipts for the agricultural or horticultural operations in the previous year is more than your household income for the preceding calendar year.

Payments

For tax and special assessment payments, we can accept checks, cash or money orders in the office or you can now go online and make your payment with an electronic check or credit card.

Current Millage Rates

The current millage rate for the Summer 2008 tax bills is 18.4501 mills for homes with a Principle Residence Exemption, and 36.4501 mills for homes or property without the Principle Residence Exemption. The Winter 2007 rate was 7.6214 mills, the Winter 2008 rates will not be available until November 2008.