Creation of a special assessment district (SAD); The Tax Tribunal’s (TT) exclusive jurisdiction; Hillsdale Cnty Sr Servs, Inc v Hillsdale Cnty; MCL 205.731(a); Wikman v City of Novi; Whether the circuit court had jurisdiction

The court held that the TT had exclusive jurisdiction over this case concerning a SAD. Thus, the circuit court correctly dismissed the case under MCR 2.116(C)(4) for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The Supreme Court explained in Hillsdale “that under MCL 205.731(a), four elements must be satisfied for the [TT] to have exclusive jurisdiction[.]” The court held that all four were satisfied here. “As to the first and second elements, plaintiff seeks to initiate a proceeding for direct review of Detroit’s [11/15/23] resolution which, according to plaintiff, renewed the SAD for seven years to provide the subdivision funding for snow removal, mosquito abatement, and security services.” The court noted that when “a city council exercises its authority to levy a SAD for the cost of a public improvement, the city council is an ‘agency’ that is ‘empowered to make a decision subject to review by the’” TT. In addition, nothing in the record suggested “that the SAD renewal was not ‘final.’ Thus, when Detroit renewed the SAD, it provided a final decision for the [TT] to review, satisfying the first two elements of MCL 205.731(a).” Turning to the third element, the parties agreed “that Detroit’s renewal of the SAD relates to a ‘special assessment.’ Finally, as to the fourth element, the special assessment was imposed ‘under property tax law.’” The court disagreed with plaintiff’s assertion that the circuit court had “jurisdiction because Detroit allegedly lacked the authority to create the SAD—at least as to a SAD applied to property owners abutting public streets. Plaintiff is directly questioning the SAD’s validity, a question over which the [TT] has exclusive jurisdiction.” Because the gravamen of the complaint concerned “the validity of the SAD as applied to these particular factual circumstances,” the TT had exclusive jurisdiction. Affirmed.