NEWS

Improper tax break for Snyder aide was Bath Twp.’s fault

Paul Egan

LANSING – The assessor for Bath Township says it’s the fault of the township — not Gov. Rick Snyder’s aide Rich Baird — that Baird was improperly receiving a personal residence exemption for two homes.

Beth Botke told the Free Press Tuesday she researched the tax issue and found Baird never requested a PRE for the home he bought in Bath Township in 2011.

The previous owners had filed a request at the time of the sale to rescind the PRE they received, which reduces residential property taxes, Botke said. But due to a “computer glitch,” the change never got reflected in Baird’s tax bill, Botke said.

Snyder had defended Baird, but through a spokeswoman attributed the tax issue to an “inadvertent error” on the part of Baird, who has held the title “transformation manager” in the administration and has been a prominent figure in past controversies.

Botke said Snyder issued his “inadvertent error” statement before she completed her research on the issue last week. Since then, she’s apologized to Baird on behalf of the township, she said.

“He had not requested it,” and “he would not have known,” without examining his assessment or his tax bill, Botke said.

Snyder spokeswoman said the initial comment from Snyder was made while “we were still trying to track down what had happened,” but “the inadvertent error is that Rich didn’t double check his tax bills – some of which showed in very fine print showed the PRE and some that did not.”

In recent days, Baird sent an e-mail and a voice mail message saying he was considering suing Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, and Michigan AFL-CIO President Karla Swift for publicly criticizing him over the tax issue and questioning his integrity.

Baird, on Aug. 22, delivered a personal check for close to $17,000 to the Bath Township offices, covering back taxes and interest for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 tax years — one day after Michigan Democrats announced Baird had PREs on homes in both Michigan and Palatine, Ill. and also appeared on both state’s voter rolls.

Roger Kerson, a spokesman for the Michigan AFL-CIO, said there’s no doubt Baird paid his property taxes late after the Snyder administration increased taxes for a large number of Michigan citizens.

It is “of concern that a public official makes threatening statements to people when members of the public try to hold him accountable,” Kerson said.

Baird, who spends most of his time in Michigan but returns to his wife and family in Illinois on weekends, sent a certified letter to the Cook County Clerk asking to be removed from the Illinois voter list.

Paul Egan is a reporter for the Detroit Free Press.